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India says military stations attacked by Pakistan drones and missiles

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Blasts rang out across the Indian city of Jammu late on Thursday during what the government said was a Pakistani drone and missile attack on military stations around the Kashmir region on the second day of clashes between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

Sirens sounded and red flashes and projectiles erupted in the night sky above Jammu for about 2-1/2 hours, a Reuters journalist said, in what appeared to be an escalation in the countries’ worst confrontation in more than two decades, Reuters reported.

Two days of fighting have killed nearly four dozen people.

“Military stations at Jammu, Pathankot & Udhampur were targeted by Pakistani-origin drones and missiles along the international border in J&K today,” India’s Ministry of Defence said on X, citing places in and near the federal territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

“The threats were swiftly neutralised …. No casualties or material losses were reported.”

Indian TV channels also showed flares and flashes in the sky above Jaisalmer city in Rajasthan state, which shares a border with the southern Pakistani province of Sindh.

In a statement, Islamabad denied attacking Pathankot in India’s Punjab state, Srinagar in the Kashmir Valley and Jaisalmer and said the accusations were “entirely unfounded, politically motivated, and part of a reckless propaganda campaign aimed at maligning Pakistan”.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the country would respond to any escalation “with full resolve and determination to safeguard Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Electricity in Jammu was slowly being restored after a blackout during the attack, a Reuters journalist said.

Eight missiles, fired from Pakistan at the Jammu region towns of Satwari, Samba, Ranbir Singh Pura and Arnia, were intercepted by air defence units, added an Indian military source who asked not to be named.

They were part of a wider attack, the source added.

Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif earlier said further retaliation was “increasingly certain” after both countries accused each other of launching drone attacks.

World powers from the U.S. to Russia and China have called for calm in one of the world’s most dangerous and populated nuclear flashpoint regions. The U.S. Consulate General in Pakistan’s Lahore ordered staff to shelter in place.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called for de-escalation in separate calls with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday, the State Department said.

The relationship between India and Pakistan has been fraught with tension since they gained independence from colonial Britain in 1947. The countries have fought three wars, two of them over Kashmir, and clashed many times.

The neighbours, which both claim Kashmir in full and rule over parts of it, separately acquired nuclear weapons in the 1990s.

DRONES, MISSILES, AIR DEFENCES

In the latest confrontations, India said it hit nine “terrorist infrastructure” sites in Pakistan on Wednesday in retaliation for what it says was a deadly Islamabad-backed attack in Indian Kashmir on April 22.

Pakistan says it was not involved and denied that any of the sites hit by India were militant bases. It said it shot down five Indian aircraft on Wednesday, a report the Indian embassy in Beijing dismissed as “misinformation”.

Pakistan’s military said earlier on Thursday it shot down 29 drones from India at multiple locations including the two largest cities of Karachi and Lahore and the garrison city of Rawalpindi, home to the army’s headquarters.

The Indian defence ministry said Pakistan attempted to engage a number of military targets in northern and western India from Wednesday night into Thursday morning and they were “neutralised” by Indian air defence systems.

In response, Indian forces targeted air defence radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan on Thursday, the ministry said.

Before trading ended, both countries saw their stocks, bonds and currencies decline, and Pakistan’s benchmark share index closed down 5.9%.

Local media reported panic buying in some cities in the Indian state of Punjab, which shares a border with Pakistan, as people hoarded essentials.

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Eight dead in explosion near Red Fort in India’s New Delhi

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At least eight people were killed in an explosion near the landmark Red Fort in a densely populated district of the Indian capital New Delhi, city police said.

The blast occurred in a car near the Red Fort, but the exact cause was not immediately known, and was being investigated, city police spokesperson Sanjay Tyagi said, Reuters reported.

At least 11 people were injured, TV channels said.

Visuals on local media showed flames and smoke billowing from more than one vehicle in what was described as a congested street located near a metro station in the old part of Delhi.

At least six vehicles and three autorickshaws caught fire, Delhi’s deputy fire chief said, adding that the flames had been doused by firefighting teams.

“We heard a big sound, our windows shook,” one resident who did not give a name, told NDTV.

Police tried to clear crowds that gathered around the site of the incident.

The Red Fort, known in India as the Lal Qila, is a 17th-century, Mughal-era fort located in the old city and visited by tourists through the year.

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Eleven dead, dozens missing after Rohingya migrant boat sinks near Thailand-Malaysia border

Officials said the wooden vessel, carrying an estimated 70 passengers, capsized off the coast of Langkawi late last week.

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At least eleven people have died and dozens more are missing after a boat carrying members of Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya community sank near the Thailand-Malaysia maritime border, Malaysian and Thai authorities confirmed on Monday.

Officials said the wooden vessel, carrying an estimated 70 passengers, capsized off the coast of Langkawi late last week. So far, 13 survivors — mostly Rohingya — have been rescued, while the search continues for the remaining passengers.

Thai authorities reported four bodies recovered, including two children, adding to the seven found by Malaysia’s maritime agency. Another boat carrying around 230 people remains unaccounted for, prompting joint air and sea operations between Malaysia and Thailand.

“We have strong coordination with the Thai maritime agency and continue to exchange information closely,” said Romli Mustafa, director of Malaysia’s Maritime Enforcement Agency in Kedah and Perlis. “Air and sea assets are being deployed, and the search operation could continue for up to seven days.”

Preliminary reports indicate that the group departed from Myanmar’s western coast, near the border with Bangladesh, around two weeks ago. Some passengers were later transferred onto smaller boats, including the one that sank, in an apparent attempt to evade maritime patrols.

A desperate exodus

The Rohingya, a Muslim minority group long persecuted in Myanmar, continue to flee violence, discrimination, and poverty in the country’s Rakhine State. More than 1.3 million now live as refugees in Bangladesh’s overcrowded camps, while others undertake dangerous sea crossings in search of safety in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand.

Between January and early November 2025, over 5,100 Rohingya are believed to have attempted sea journeys from Myanmar and Bangladesh, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Nearly 600 people have died or gone missing during that period.

Thailand’s maritime command confirmed that two of the recovered victims were carrying refugee cards identifying them as Rohingya.

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Turkiye issues arrest warrant for Netanyahu over Gaza ‘genocide’

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Türkiye has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several senior Israeli officials on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity in connection with Israel’s war in Gaza.

According to a statement released on Friday by the Istanbul prosecutor’s office, arrest warrants have been issued for 37 Israeli officials, including Defence Minister Israel Katz, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir. The full list of suspects was not made public.

The statement accuses Israeli leaders of carrying out “systematic acts of genocide and crimes against humanity” since the war began in October 2023. It cites several incidents, including the October 17, 2023 bombing of Gaza’s al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, which killed about 500 people, and the February 29, 2024 destruction of medical equipment by Israeli soldiers. It also references Israel’s blockade of Gaza and the denial of humanitarian access.

The prosecutor’s office further highlighted the bombing of the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, built by Türkiye in the Gaza Strip, which was struck by Israeli forces in March.

Israel condemned the move as a “publicity stunt.”

“Israel firmly rejects, with contempt, the latest PR stunt by the tyrant [President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar wrote on X.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian group Hamas welcomed Türkiye’s announcement, calling it a “commendable step that reflects the sincere commitment of the Turkish people and their leadership to justice, humanity, and solidarity with our oppressed Palestinian nation.”

The development comes nearly a year after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes. Türkiye also joined South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last year.

According to Gaza’s health authorities, Israel’s war on the enclave has so far killed at least 68,875 Palestinians and wounded more than 170,000 since October 2023.

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