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The death of 12-year-old twins who were killed in a Pakistani strike as they fled the town of Poonch in India-held Kashmir has helped unite a community in shock.Zian Khan and his sister Urwa Fatima were hit by an artillery shell on Wednesday as their parents tried to leave the town that has come under repeated attack.The latest clashes are the worst in decades between the nuclear-armed foes and have killed more than 60 civilians on both sides.Both sides confirmed on Saturday a full and immediate ceasefire that was surprisingly announced first by US President Donald Trump.The twins’ mother, Urusa Khan, 30, survived the attack with minor wounds.Their 46-year-old father, Rameez Khan, is in hospital with life-threatening injuries, unaware that his children are no longer alive.”None of us have ever experienced such a direct targeting of our town or civilian areas in our lifetime,” Sarfaraz Mir, 40, a cousin of the dead twins told AFP.”No one thought it could happen, but it feels like civilians and the town are being specifically targeted,” he said. “People are really afraid now.”At least 12 people have been killed and 49 others injured since shelling intensified in Poonch, about 145 miles (230 kilometres) from Jammu, the second largest city in Indian-administered Kashmir.Only a few thousand residents remain in Poonch, which was home to around 60,000 people. Most of the residents fled on Wednesday evening in cars, buses and even on foot, hours after the unprecedented overnight shelling started.-‘We regret that decision’-As the twins’ family hurriedly tried to leave their home on Wednesday, their mother briefly went back inside to pick up something she had forgotten. “At that very instant a shell exploded in the narrow lane outside their residence,” Mir said.Urwa died instantly and her brother in hospital later.”The people only got to the father later… and (he) is still in a critical condition,” he added. The family had moved from a village to Poonch to be near the dead twins’ school. “We regret that decision,” Fiaz Diwan, 30, a family friend and former neighbour in the village of Chaktroo told AFP.”The news of their death was shocking, unbelievable,” Diwan said. “They may still have been alive if not for the parents’ desire to give them the best education and future.”-‘Nerves of steel’-The twins’ death has united disparate communities grappling with loss and destruction in Poonch.  Mir said that many had suffered including “a child whose head was cut off, a victim from the local Sikh minority — but twins are hard to forget”. Poonch “is a bouquet of communities — Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims — happily living together, and it feels like an attempt to target that,” he said.A Sikh and a Hindu temple complex were damaged in the shelling.Indian foreign secretary Vikram Misri on Friday raised the twins’ deaths and accused Pakistan of “targeting and shelling places of worship with a particular design”.”This includes Gurdwaras (Sikh temples), these convents, and (Hindu) temples. This is a new low, even for Pakistan.”The latest clashes follow an attack last month in the Indian-administered side of disputed Kashmir that killed 26 tourists, mostly Hindu men, which Delhi blamed on Islamabad.Pakistan has denied any involvement and called for an independent probe.Pankaj Sharma, 48, a Hindu from Poonch, bemoaned the twins’ death, saying their “entire lives (were) still ahead of them”.Right after the twins’ funeral, their mother went to hospital to be with her gravely wounded husband. “God has really given her nerves of steel to go through all of this with calm and dignity,” Mir said.

Pakistan launched counterattacks against India Saturday after three of its air bases were struck overnight, and as the conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours spiralled towards a full-blown war that sparked calls against “miscalculation”.Indian Wing Commander Vyomika Singh told a briefing Saturday there were “several high-speed missile attacks” on air bases, but “limited damage” to equipment.Pakistan earlier accused India of targeting three of its bases with missiles — including one in Rawalpindi, some 10 kilometres (six miles) from the capital, Islamabad.Authorities in Pakistan-administered Kashmir said 11 civilians were killed by Indian shelling overnight.In a live broadcast aired by state television in the middle of the night, Pakistan’s military spokesman Ahmed Sharif warned: “Now you just wait for our response.”Later Saturday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told senior officials “we have given India a befitting response and avenged the blood of our innocent citizens”, his office said in a statement.The clashes, involving fighter jets, missiles, drones and artillery, are the worst in decades and have killed more than 60 civilians.The fighting was touched off by an attack last month in the Indian-administered side of disputed Kashmir that killed 26 tourists, mostly Hindu men, which Delhi blamed on Islamabad.India accused the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba — a UN-designated terrorist organisation — of carrying out the attack, but Islamabad has denied any involvement and called for an independent probe.The countries have fought several wars over the Muslim-majority Kashmir, which both claim in full but administer separate portions of since gaining independence from British rule in 1947.- ‘Avoid miscalculation’ -In a series of calls to senior officials in both countries, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged them to restore direct communication to “avoid miscalculation”.Rubio “emphasized that both sides need to identify methods to de-escalate and re-establish direct communication to avoid miscalculation”, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.For the first known time since the conflict erupted, Rubio also spoke with Pakistan’s army chief, considered the country’s key powerbroker.China also made a similar appeal as did the G7 group of industrialised nations.The overnight Indian attack on the Rawalpindi air base could be heard from Islamabad.The air base is used to receive foreign dignitaries, and Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs Adel Al-Jubeir had departed just hours earlier. Separately, AFP journalists reported loud explosions in Srinagar, the capital of India-administered Kashmir.A police officer speaking on condition of anonymity said the Awantipora military airbase outside the city had been struck.”Pakistan’s blatant escalation with drone strikes and other munitions continues along our western border,” the army said on X. The army said “multiple enemy drones were spotted flying over” a military cantonment in Amritsar in Punjab, a state adjoining Kashmir, and were “instantly engaged and destroyed by our air defence units.”- Rush to leave -In Jammu, Indian-run Kashmir’s second biggest city, people scrambled to board a special train dispatched to ferry people out.”There are loud explosions the entire night,” said Karan Varma, a 41-year-old mason.”There is no choice but to leave”.The overwhelming majority were poor labourers from other parts of India seeking to return to their homes.On Friday, the Indian army said it had “repulsed” waves of Pakistani attacks using drones and other munitions overnight, and gave a “befitting reply”.Pakistan’s military spokesman denied that Islamabad was carrying out such attacks, and vowed revenge for India’s initial strikes, on Wednesday.Pakistani military sources said its forces had shot down 77 drones, with debris of many incursions seen by AFP in cities across the country.Pakistan’s military early Saturday claimed New Delhi’s forces had bombed their own territory in Amritsar, without providing evidence.Armed groups have stepped up operations in Kashmir since 2019, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government revoked its limited autonomy and took the state under direct rule by New Delhi.The countries have fought several wars over the Muslim-majority Kashmir, which both claim in full but administer separate portions of since gaining independence from British rule in 1947. The conflict has caused major disruptions to international aviation, with airlines having to cancel flights or use longer routes that do not overfly the India-Pakistan frontier.India has closed 32 airports, while schools in areas close to the border on both sides were shuttered, affecting millions of children.Pakistan’ aviation authority said its airspace would be closed until noon Sunday (0700 GMT). burs-ach-fox

Pakistan on Saturday launched counterattacks against India after three of its air bases were struck overnight, as the conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours spiralled toward full-blown war.The South Asian countries have exchanged fire since Wednesday, when India carried out air strikes on sites in Pakistani territory over a deadly attack on tourists on the Indian side of the divided Kashmir region.The clashes — which have involved missiles, drones, and exchanges of fire along the de-facto border in disputed Kashmir — are the worst in decades and have killed more than 50 civilians.World leaders including the G7 group of industrialised nations have called for restraint, and the United States on Saturday offered help to get both sides talking as the violence intensified.The Indian army on Saturday reported fresh Pakistani attacks along their shared border.  “Pakistan’s blatant escalation with drone strikes and other munitions continues along our western border,” the army said on X.AFP journalists reported loud explosions in Srinagar, the capital of India-administered Kashmir.The army said “multiple enemy drones were spotted flying over” a military cantonment in Amritsar in Punjab, a state adjoining Kashmir, and were “instantly engaged and destroyed by our air defence units.”Hours ahead of Pakistan’s latest operation, the country’s military spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry had accused India of having “attacked with missiles” targeting three air bases.In the live broadcast aired by state television in the middle of the night, he said a “majority of the missiles” had been intercepted and “no flying assets” had been damaged. One of the bases targeted, Nur Khan air base in Rawalpindi, the garrison city where the army is headquartered, is around 10 kilometres (6 miles) from the capital Islamabad.Several blasts were heard from the capital overnight. The air base is used to receive foreign dignitaries and Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs Adel Al-Jubeir had departed just hours earlier. “Now you just wait for our response,” Chaudhry warned India. With the violence ratcheting up, Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered US help to deescalate.Speaking with Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir on Saturday, Rubio “continued to urge both parties to find ways to deescalate and offered US assistance in starting constructive talks in order to avoid future conflicts,” said spokeswoman Tammy Bruce.- Disputed Kashmir -The fighting was touched off by an attack on the Indian-run side of disputed Kashmir that killed 26 tourists, mostly Hindu men, which Delhi blamed on Islamabad.India accused the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba — a UN-designated terrorist organisation — of carrying out the attack but Pakistan has denied any involvement and called for an independent probe. The countries have fought several wars over the Muslim-majority Kashmir, which both claim in full but administer separate portions of since gaining independence from British rule in 1947.Previous clashes have been mostly limited to the Kashmir region, separated by a heavily militarised border known as the Line of Control, but this time India has struck multiple cities deep in Pakistan.Pakistan’s foreign ministry alleged New Delhi’s “reckless conduct has brought the two nuclear-armed states closer to a major conflict”.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met top security officials on Friday, including his national security advisor, defence minister and the chiefs of the armed forces, his office said.Most of the fatalities, which included children, were in Pakistan during Wednesday’s first air strikes by India. – Drone warfare -The last days have been framed by a series of ripostes following attacks from each side.On Friday, the Indian army said it had “repulsed” waves of Pakistani attacks using drones and other munitions overnight, and gave a “befitting reply”.Pakistan’s military spokesman denied that Islamabad was carrying out such attacks, and vowed revenge for the initial Indian strikes.Pakistani military sources said its forces had shot down 77 drones, with debris of many incursions seen by AFP in cities across the country.An Indian army spokeswoman on Friday spoke of “300 to 400” Pakistani drones, but it was impossible to verify that claim independently.Pakistan has accused India of fabricating the drone strikes, and early Saturday its military claimed Delhi’s forces had bombed their own territory in Amritsar, without providing evidence.Civilians have come under fire on both sides, with Islamabad and New Delhi accusing each other of carrying out unprovoked artillery shelling, and missile and drone strikes.On Friday, shelling along the LoC killed five civilians including a two-year-old girl on the Pakistan said, officials said. Across the border, a police official said one woman was killed and two men wounded by heavy shelling.- Disruptions -Armed groups have stepped up operations in Kashmir since 2019, when Modi’s Hindu nationalist government revoked its limited autonomy and took the state under direct rule by New Delhi.The conflict has caused major disruptions to international aviation, with airlines having to cancel flights or use longer routes that do not overfly the India-Pakistan frontier. India has closed 24 airports, while schools in areas close to the border on both sides were shuttered, affecting millions of children. The mega Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament was on Friday suspended for a week, while Pakistan suspended its own T20 franchise competition indefinitely.burs-ecl/hmn/tym

Pakistan’s military on Saturday said India launched another wave of missiles targeting three air bases — including one on the outskirts of the capital — as the conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours spiralled toward full-blown war. The South Asian countries have exchanged fire since Wednesday, when India launched air strikes on what it called “terrorist” sites in Pakistani territory after a deadly attack on tourists on the Indian side of the divided Kashmir region. The clashes — which have involved missiles, drones, and exchanges of fire along the de-facto border in disputed Kashmir — are the worst in decades and have killed more than 50 civilians.Military spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry in a live broadcast aired by state television in the middle of the night said India had “attacked with missiles” targeting three air bases. He said a “majority of the missiles” had been intercepted and “no flying assets” had been damaged. One of the bases targeted, Nur Khan air base in Rawalpindi, the garrison city where the army is headquartered, is around 10 kilometres (6 miles) from the capital Islamabad.Several blasts were heard from the capital overnight. The air base is used to receive foreign dignitaries and Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs Adel Al-Jubeir had departed just hours earlier. “Now you just wait for our response,” Chaudhry warned India. – Disputed Kashmir -The fighting comes two weeks after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing an attack on the Indian-run side of disputed Kashmir that killed 26 tourists, mostly Hindu men. India blamed the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba — a UN-designated terrorist organisation — for the attack but Pakistan has denied any involvement and called for an independent probe. The countries have fought several wars over the Muslim-majority Kashmir, which both claim in full but administer separate portions of since gaining independence from British rule in 1947.Previous clashes have been mostly limited to the Kashmir region, separated by a heavily militarised border known as the Line of Control, but this time India has struck multiple cities deep in Pakistan.Pakistan’s foreign ministry alleged New Delhi’s “reckless conduct has brought the two nuclear-armed states closer to a major conflict”.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met top security officials on Friday, including his national security advisor, defence minister and the chiefs of the armed forces, his office said.Most of the more than 50 deaths were in Pakistan during Wednesday’s first air strikes by India, and included children. – Drone warfare -On Friday, the Indian army said it had “repulsed” waves of Pakistani attacks using drones and other munitions overnight, and gave a “befitting reply”.Pakistan’s military spokesman denied that Islamabad was carrying out such attacks, and vowed revenge for the initial Indian strikes.Pakistani military sources said its forces had shot down 77 in the last two days, with debris of many incursions seen by AFP in cities across the country.An Indian army spokeswoman on Friday spoke of “300 to 400” Pakistani drones, but it was impossible to verify that claim independently.Pakistan has accused India of fabricating the drone strikes, and early Saturday its military claimed Delhi’s forces had bombed their own territory in Amritsar, without providing evidence.Civilians have come under fire on both sides, with Islamabad and New Delhi accusing each other of carrying out unprovoked artillery shelling, and missile and drone strikes.On Friday, shelling along the LoC killed five civilians including a two-year-old girl on the Pakistan said, officials said. Across the border, a police official said one woman was killed and two men wounded by heavy shelling.- Disruptions -Armed groups have stepped up operations in Kashmir since 2019, when Modi’s Hindu nationalist government revoked its limited autonomy and took the state under direct rule by New Delhi.The conflict has caused major disruptions to international aviation, with airlines having to cancel flights or use longer routes that do not overfly the India-Pakistan frontier. India has closed 24 airports, with local media reporting the suspension would remain in place until next week. Schools have also closed on areas close to the border on both sides, affecting millions of children. The mega Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament was on Friday suspended for a week, while Pakistan suspended its own T20 franchise competition indefinitely, barely a day after relocating it to the United Arab Emirates over the violence.World powers have called for both sides to exercise “restraint”, with several offering to mediate the dispute.Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met his Indian counterpart in Delhi on Thursday, days after visiting Pakistan.The International Crisis Group, however, said “foreign powers appear to have been somewhat indifferent” to the prospect of war, despite warnings of possible escalation.burs-ecl/tym

Pakistan has warned it will “not de-escalate” a spiralling conflict with India, and blamed New Delhi for bringing the two nuclear-armed neighbours closer to a full-blown war, with the death toll from days of violence crossing 50.The South Asian countries have exchanged fire since India launched air strikes on Pakistani territory on Wednesday, saying they were targeting “terrorists” after a deadly attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir last month.On Friday, the third day of tit-for-tat exchanges, the Indian army said it had “repulsed” waves of Pakistani attacks using drones and other munitions overnight, and gave a “befitting reply”.Pakistan’s military spokesman denied that Islamabad was carrying out such attacks, and vowed revenge for the initial Indian strikes.”We will not de-escalate — with the damages they did on our side, they should take a hit,” said Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry.”So far, we have been protecting ourselves but they will get an answer in our own timing.”The clashes are the worst between the two countries — which have fought three full-scale wars since gaining independence from the British in 1947 — for decades.Civilians have come under fire on both sides, with Islamabad and New Delhi accusing each other of carrying out unprovoked artillery shelling, and missile and drone strikes.”Our life is worth nothing. At any time entire families could be wiped out,” said Naseer Ahmed Khan, 50, whose village lies near the Line of Control (LoC) that divides the disputed Kashmir region between Pakistan and India.”Our children are not able to sleep and we cannot have a meal in peace.”- ‘Reckless conduct’ -Most of the more than 50 deaths were in Pakistan during Wednesday’s air strikes by India, and included children. On Friday, Pakistani security and government officials said five civilians — including a two-year-old girl — were killed by Indian shelling overnight in areas along the heavily militarised LoC.On the other side, a police official said one woman was killed and two men wounded by heavy shelling.Pakistani military sources said that its forces had shot down 77 Indian drones in the last two days, with debris of many incursions seen by AFP in cities across the country.An Indian army spokeswoman on Friday spoke of “300 to 400” Pakistani drones being fired, but it was impossible to verify that claim independently.Pakistan has accused India of fabricating the drone strikes, and early Saturday its military claimed Delhi’s forces had bombed their own territory in Amritsar, without providing evidence.Pakistan’s foreign ministry alleged New Delhi’s “reckless conduct has brought the two nuclear-armed states closer to a major conflict”.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met top security officials on Friday, including his national security advisor, defence minister and the chiefs of the armed forces, his office said.The two countries have fought several wars over Muslim-majority Kashmir, which both claim in full but administer separately.- Disruptions -Armed groups have stepped up operations in Kashmir since 2019, when Modi’s Hindu nationalist government revoked its limited autonomy and took the state under direct rule by New Delhi.Pakistan has rejected claims by India that it was behind last month’s attack in Pahalgam, in Indian-administered Kashmir, when gunmen killed 26 people, mainly male Hindu tourists.India blamed the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba — a UN-designated terrorist organisation — for the attack.The conflict has caused major disruptions to international aviation, with airlines having to cancel flights or use longer routes that do not overfly the India-Pakistan frontier. India has closed 24 airports, with local media reporting the suspension would remain in place until next week. The mega Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament was on Friday suspended for a week, while Pakistan suspended its own T20 franchise competition indefinitely, barely a day after relocating it to the United Arab Emirates over the violence.- Mediation offers -World powers have called for both sides to exercise “restraint”, with several offering to mediate the dispute.On Friday, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir in Islamabad, according to a statement.That meeting came after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met his Indian counterpart in Delhi on Thursday, days after visiting Pakistan.The International Crisis Group, however, said “foreign powers appear to have been somewhat indifferent” to the prospect of war, despite warnings of possible escalation.On Friday, Pakistan’s military spokesman warned India that further drone or other strikes could lead to “unpredictable” results.”They should know that the escalation ladder is always unpredictable,” he said.burs-aha/sst

Pakistan on Friday accused India of bringing the nuclear-armed neighbours “closer to a major conflict”, as the death toll from three days of missile, artillery and drone attacks passed 50.The bloody escalation comes after an attack on tourists last month in the Indian-run part of disputed Kashmir that killed 26 people, and which New Delhi accused Islamabad of backing — an allegation Pakistan denied.India responded with air strikes Wednesday on what it called “terrorist camps” in Pakistan, killing more than 20 civilians and fuelling the worst clashes between the two in decades.Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan said that India’s “reckless conduct has brought the two nuclear-armed states closer to a major conflict”.Military spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry told media: “We will not de-escalate — with the damages they did on our side, they should take a hit.””So far, we have been protecting ourselves but they will get an answer in our own timing,” he added.On a third day of tit-for-tat exchanges, the Indian army said it had “repulsed” waves of Pakistani attacks using drones and other munitions overnight, and gave a “befitting reply”.Late Friday, an Indian defence source told AFP that drones had been sighted in the Indian-administered Kashmir areas of Jammu and Samba, and in neighbouring Punjab state.Earlier, Pakistan’s military spokesman denied that Islamabad was carrying out such attacks.The two countries have fought several wars over Muslim-majority Kashmir, which is divided between the two.On Friday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with his national security advisor, defence minister and the chiefs of the armed forces, his office said.- Drone warfare -Most of the more than 50 deaths were in Pakistan during Wednesday’s air strikes by India and included children. On Friday, Pakistani security and government officials said five civilians — including a two-year-old girl — were killed by Indian shelling overnight in areas along the heavily militarised Line of Control (LoC), which separates Kashmir between India and Pakistan.On the other side, a police official said one woman was killed and two men wounded by heavy shelling.Pakistani military sources said that its forces had shot down 77 Indian drones in the last two days, with debris of many incursions seen by AFP in cities across the country.India said 300 to 400 drones had attempted to cross into its territory, and also accused Pakistani forces on Thursday of targeting three military stations.Pakistan’s military said Wednesday that five Indian jets had been downed across the border, but New Delhi has not responded to the claims, while a military source said three jets had crashed on home territory.Both sides have made repeated claims and counter-claims that are difficult to verify. “The youth of Kashmir will never forget this act of brutality by India,” said 15-year-old Muhammad Bilal in Muzaffarabad, the main city in Pakistan-administered Kashmir where a mosque was hit Wednesday.In Jammu, under Indian administration, 21-year-old student Piyush Singh said: “Our [attack] is justified because we are doing it for whatever happened to our civilians.”- Aviation, sport disruptions -Militants have stepped up operations in Kashmir since 2019, when Indian PM Modi’s Hindu nationalist government revoked its limited autonomy and took the state under direct rule from New Delhi.Pakistan has rejected claims by New Delhi that it was behind last month’s attack in Pahalgam, Indian-administered Kashmir, when gunmen killed 26 people, mainly male Hindu tourists.India blamed the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba — a UN-designated terrorist organisation — for the attack.The conflict has caused major disruption to international aviation, with airlines having to cancel flights or use longer routes that do not overfly the India-Pakistan frontier. India had closed 24 airports, with local media reporting the suspension would remain in place until next week. The mega Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament was on Friday suspended for a week, while Pakistan suspended Super League play indefinitely, barely a day after relocating it to the United Arab Emirates.- Calls for de-escalation -World powers have called for both sides to exercise “restraint”, with several offering to mediate the dispute.On Friday, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir in Islamabad, according to a statement.That meeting came after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met his Indian counterpart in Delhi on Thursday, days after visiting Pakistan.The International Crisis Group, however, said “foreign powers appear to have been somewhat indifferent” to the prospect of war, despite warnings of possible escalation.On Friday, the International Monetary Fund said it had approved a $1 billion payout to Pakistan, despite India’s objections.burs-ecl-aha/sst

Pakistan charged India Friday with bringing the nuclear-armed neighbours “closer to a major conflict”, as the death toll from three days of missile, artillery and drone attacks passed 50.The bloody escalation comes after an attack on tourists last month in the Indian-run part of disputed Kashmir that killed 26 people, and which New Delhi accused Islamabad of backing — an allegation Pakistan denied.India responded with air strikes Wednesday on what it called “terrorist camps” in Pakistan, killing more than 20 civilians and fuelling the worst clashes between the two in decades.Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan said that India’s “reckless conduct has brought the two nuclear-armed states closer to a major conflict”.Military spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry told media: “We will not de-escalate — with the damages they did on our side, they should take a hit.””So far, we have been protecting ourselves but they will get an answer in our own timing,” he added.On a third day of tit-for-tat exchanges, the Indian army said it had “repulsed” waves of Pakistani attacks using drones and other munitions overnight, and gave a “befitting reply”.Late Friday, an Indian defence source told AFP drones had been sighted in the Indian-administered Kashmir areas of Jammu and Samba, and in neighbouring Punjab state.Earlier, Pakistan’s military spokesman denied that Islamabad was carrying out such attacks. The two countries have fought several wars over Muslim-majority Kashmir, which is divided between the two.- Drone warfare -Most of the more than 50 deaths were in Pakistan during Wednesday’s air strikes by India and included children. On Friday, Pakistani security and government officials said five civilians — including a two-year-old girl — were killed by Indian shelling overnight in areas along the heavily militarised Line of Control (LoC), which separates Kashmir between India and Pakistan.On the other side, a police official said one woman was killed and two men wounded by heavy overnight shelling.Pakistani military sources said that its forces had shot down 77 Indian drones in the last two days, with debris of many incursions seen by AFP in cities across the country. India said 300 to 400 drones had attempted to cross into its territory, and also accused Pakistani forces on Thursday of targeting three military stations.Pakistan’s military said on Wednesday that five Indian jets had been downed across the border, but New Delhi has not responded to the claims, while a military source said three jets had crashed on home territory.Both sides have made repeated claims and counter-claims that are difficult to verify. “The youth of Kashmir will never forget this act of brutality by India,” said 15-year-old Muhammad Bilal in Muzaffarabad, the main city in Pakistan-administered Kashmir where a mosque was hit Wednesday.In Jammu, under Indian administration, 21-year-old student Piyush Singh said: “Our [attack] is justified because we are doing it for whatever happened to our civilians.”- Schools closed -Militants have stepped up operations in Kashmir since 2019, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist government revoked its limited autonomy and took the state under direct rule from New Delhi.Pakistan has rejected claims by New Delhi that it was behind last month’s attack in Pahalgam, Indian-administered Kashmir, when gunmen killed 26 people, mainly male Hindu tourists.India blamed the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba — a UN-designated terrorist organisation — for the attack.On Friday, schools were closed on both sides of Kashmir and in Punjab state, affecting tens of millions of children. The conflict has caused major disruption to international aviation, with airlines having to cancel flights or use longer routes that don’t overfly the India-Pakistan frontier. India also closed 24 airports, but according to local media, the suspension on civilian flights may be lifted on Saturday. The mega Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament was on Friday suspended for a week, the Indian cricket board announced, a day after a fixture was abandoned in Dharamsala, less than 200 kilometres (125 miles) from Jammu, where explosions had been reported.The Pakistan Super League was moved to the United Arab Emirates, after an Indian drone struck Rawalpindi stadium on Thursday.- Calls for de-escalation -US Vice President JD Vance has called for de-escalation, while underlining that Washington was “not going to get involved in the middle of a war that’s fundamentally none of our business”.Several countries have offered to mediate, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in New Delhi on Thursday, days after visiting Pakistan.Diplomats and world leaders have pressured both countries for restraint.However, the International Crisis Group said “foreign powers appear to have been somewhat indifferent” to the prospect of war, despite warnings of possible escalation.Amnesty said the warring sides “must take all necessary measures to protect civilians and minimise any suffering and casualties”.burs-ecl-aha/sst

India has ordered X to block more than 8,000 accounts, the platform said Thursday, adding that it was reluctantly complying with what it described as government-imposed “censorship.”The move appears to be part of India’s sweeping crackdown targeting social media accounts of Pakistani politicians, celebrities and media organizations amid heightened tensions and deadly confrontations between the nuclear-armed neighbors.The order, which X said includes demands to block international news organizations and other prominent users, comes a day after Meta banned a prominent Muslim news page on Instagram in India at New Delhi’s request.”X has received executive orders from the Indian government requiring X to block over 8,000 accounts in India, subject to potential penalties including significant fines and imprisonment of the company’s local employees,” the site’s global government affairs team said in a statement.It added that in most cases, the government had not specified which posts from the accounts violated Indian laws, and in many others, it provided no evidence or justification for the blocks.The Elon Musk-owned platform said it disagreed with the demands but it had begun the process to withhold the specified accounts in India.”Blocking entire accounts is not only unnecessary, it amounts to censorship of existing and future content, and is contrary to the fundamental right of free speech,” the statement said.”This is not an easy decision, however keeping the platform accessible in India is vital to Indians’ ability to access information.”X said it could not make the Indian executive orders public due to legal restrictions, but it encouraged the impacted users to seek “appropriate relief from the courts.”The move comes amid fierce exchanges of artillery between India and Pakistan that has killed more than 50 people, two weeks after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing a deadly attack on tourists in the Indian-run side of the disputed Muslim-majority region of Kashmir.Pakistan rejects the charge.- Pakistan accounts hacked -Pakistan’s National Cyber Emergency Response Team (NCERT) meanwhile warned of the risk of increased cyberattacks on emails, social media, QR codes and messaging apps.Both Pakistan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Karachi Port Trust said this week that their X accounts had been hacked and later restored.In the case of the Karachi Port Trust, the account was hacked to say that the port — one of South Asia’s busiest — has been attacked by the Indian military.The X account was later restored and the port authority said that no attack had taken place.India has also banned more than a dozen Pakistani YouTube channels for allegedly spreading “provocative” content, including Pakistani news outlets.Pakistani Bollywood movie regulars Fawad Khan and Atif Aslam were also off limits in India, as well as a wide range of cricketers including Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan.Rising hostilities between the South Asian neighbors have unleashed an avalanche of online misinformation, with social media users circulating everything from deepfake videos to outdated images from unrelated conflicts, falsely linking them to the ongoing fighting.

Mohammad Naseem says his neighbours laughed when he borrowed money and built a concrete bunker under his home in a village near the disputed Kashmir border.But this week when mortar bombs rained in Salamabad, 38 people — men, women, and children — huddled in it as about a dozen shells exploded outside in quick succession.One of them destroyed Naseem’s home.”Many of us would have died had we not moved into the bunker,” Naseem, a 34-year-old hotel chef, told AFP.”We grabbed our children and rushed inside. It got so packed that after some time we felt suffocated, two of our children became unconscious,” he said.”The children had to be hospitalised after daybreak when the shelling stopped.”Other villagers hid behind rocks and bushes on the mountain slopes. Some watched their homes being reduced to rubble.Deadly confrontations between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan erupted after New Delhi accused Islamabad of backing an April 22 attack on tourists on the Indian-run side of the disputed territory, which killed 26 people. Pakistan denies the charge.- ‘Our life is worth nothing’ -“We took our children out and went up the mountain slope holding them tightly as bombs exploded around us,” Naseer Ahmed Khan, 50, said outside his damaged house on Thursday.”Our life is worth nothing. At any time entire families could be wiped out,” Khan said. “Our children are not able to sleep and we cannot have a meal in peace.”The exchange of heavy fire has destroyed or severely damaged dozens of homes in Uri, about 100 kilometres (66 miles) from the Kashmir capital Srinagar, forcing many to flee to safer areas in towns like Baramulla, about 50 kilometres away.Sajjad Shafi, a local lawmaker told AFP that about 10 percent of Uri’s population — some 22,000 people — fled since the latest fighting began.On Friday, many more were fleeing in buses and trucks provided by the government or driving off in their own cars.”How can we stay here?” Rubina Begum said outside her destroyed home. “The government should lodge us somewhere safe”.Begum’s daughter, Saima Talib, added: “We have nothing left except the clothes we are wearing”.Displaced people are struggling to find food and work and many are now sheltering in government buildings in Uri.- ‘Return empty’ -Mohammad Lateef Bhat, a road construction worker, said: “I work as a labourer with army’s border roads organisation but their work also stopped.””This morning I came to the market looking for work but there is nothing,” Bhat said.Some vegetable sellers briefly set up shop before closing.Mohammad Bashir was also despondent.”I came to the market to find some work so I can buy some food for my family (of eight) but there is nothing,” Bashir, 60, said.  The death toll from India and Pakistan’s biggest clashes in decades passed 50 on Friday with each accusing the other of staging drone attacks in waves.Farooq Ahmed Khan, 35, a bus driver from Sultandhaki village near the border, said “this fighting has made our life miserable.”Nagni, a rare mixed settlement of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs, sits on mountain slopes near the Indian army’s border headquarters in Uri.Villagers say 35 of the 50 families there have fled. Badal, a 22-year-old student who only gave his first name, was cleaning up after his sister’s wedding at his freshly painted home.- ‘There should be war’ -He showed a crater caused by a mortar bomb that landed a few metres away on the night of the wedding. “Luckily there was no loss of life but a lot of damage. What we need.. is bunkers, but there are none”. “This village has always been a target of Pakistani attacks in the past because the (Indian) army headquarters are nearby,” said Sahil Kumar, another Nagni resident. Locals say they are fed up.”I say there should be a war just to decide where Kashmir goes,” said Farooq Ahmed Khan, the bus driver. “I will also go to fight in that war so that this trouble ends for good,” Khan said.

The death toll from India and Pakistan’s biggest clashes in decades passed 50 on Friday with each country accusing the other of sending waves of drone attacks.The escalation between the nuclear-armed rivals follows an attack on tourists in the Indian-run part of disputed Kashmir that killed 26 people on April 22 and Indian air strikes on “terrorist camps” on Wednesday.In the third day of tit-for-tat exchanges since, the Indian army that it “repulsed” Pakistani attacks using drones and other munitions overnight and gave a “befitting reply”.India also accused Pakistani forces on Thursday of targeting three military stations — two in Kashmir and one in the neighbouring state of Punjab.Pakistan’s Information Minister Ataullah Tarar said Pakistan has “not targeted any locations in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir, or across international border, so far”. Five civilians were killed including a two-year-old girl by Indian shelling overnight in areas along the heavily militarised Line of Control, Pakistani security and governments officials said. “In response, the Pakistan Army carried out a strong counterattack, targeting three Indian posts across the Line of Control (LoC),” police official Adeel Khan, based in Kotli district where four of the deaths occurred, told AFP.Pakistani military sources said that its military had shot down 77 Indian drones in the last two days, claiming they were Israeli-made.In Indian-administered Kashmir, a police official said one woman died after heavy overnight shelling in Uri, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the state capital Srinagar, and two men were wounded.”The youth of Kashmir will never forget this act of brutality by India,” said 15-year-old Muhammad Bilal in Muzaffarabad, the main city in Pakistan-administered Kashmir where a mosque was hit in Wednesday’s strikes.In Indian-administered Jammu, Piyush Singh, a 21-year-old student, said: “Our [attack] is justified because we are doing it for whatever happened to our civilians.”- Schools closed -India and Pakistan have fought several wars over Kashmir which has been split since 1947 when British colonial rule ended and which both countries claim in full.Pakistan has rejected claims by India’s government that it was behind last month’s attack, calling for an independent investigation.Pakistani authorities insist they have the right to retaliate to India’s initial strikes. In a late Wednesday TV address to the nation, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif warned they would “avenge” those killed by Indian air strikes.On Friday schools were closed on both sides of the Pakistan and Indian border in Kashmir and Punjab, affecting tens of millions of children. India has also closed 24 airports, but according to local media the suspension on civilian flights may be lifted on Saturday morning. The Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket mega tournament was also suspended for a week, the Indian cricket board announced.This came after an IPL match was abandoned in Dharamsala, less than 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the town of Jammu, where explosions had been reported.The Pakistan Super League meanwhile was moved to the United Arab Emirates, after an Indian drone struck Rawalpindi stadium on Thursday.India has ordered X to block more than 8,000 accounts, the platform said, adding that it was reluctantly complying with what it described as government-imposed “censorship”.The move appears to be part of India’s sweeping crackdown targeting social media accounts of Pakistani politicians, celebrities and media organisations.- ‘Immediate de-escalation’ -American Vice President JD Vance has called for de-escalation, while underlining that Washington was “not going to get involved in the middle of a war that’s fundamentally none of our business”.Several countries have offered to mediate, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in New Delhi on Thursday, days after visiting Pakistan.Diplomats and world leaders have pressured both countries for restraint.However, the International Crisis Group said “foreign powers appear to have been somewhat indifferent” to the prospect of war, despite warnings of possible escalation.”A combination of bellicose rhetoric, domestic agitation and the remorseless logic of military one-upmanship have heightened the risks of escalation, particularly because for some time there was no diplomatic communication between the sides,” it said. Amnesty said the warring sides “must take all necessary measures to protect civilians and minimise any suffering and casualties”.burs-ecl/stu