Six Pakistani soldiers were killed and four others injured when militants attacked a security checkpoint in northwest Pakistan’s Kurram district, officials confirmed on Tuesday. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the assault.

The attack took place in the Manato area late Monday afternoon, according to a police officer at the district’s emergency control room. A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that two militants were also killed during the exchange of fire.

Security forces later identified one of the dead militants as local TTP commander Usman Khyberi.

The incident comes amid heightened tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, as both sides struggle to maintain a fragile calm following deadly border clashes in October—the worst since the Islamic Emirate took control of Kabul in 2021.

Sporadic skirmishes have continued, including heavy exchanges of fire last week that left at least five people dead.

Islamabad has accused TTP fighters of using Afghan territory to stage attacks inside Pakistan, a claim Kabul denies, insisting that Pakistan’s security problems are internal matters.

Efforts to broker a lasting truce have so far failed. Three rounds of peace talks—facilitated by Qatar, Türkiye, and Saudi Arabia—have not produced a breakthrough.

Russian President Vladimir Putin challenged heavy U.S. pressure on India not to buy Russian fuel if the U.S. could do so as he began a two-day state visit, where he was embraced on arrival by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Putin spoke in comments to Indian broadcaster India Today, aired hours after landing in New Delhi for a visit during which both countries are seeking to boost mutual trade and expand the variety of items in transactions.

New Delhi and Moscow have strong ties going back to the days of the former Soviet Union, and Russia has been the main source of arms for India for decades. India has also emerged as the top buyer of seaborne Russian oil despite Western sanctions imposed after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

India’s crude imports, however, are set to hit a three-year low this month following a punitive U.S. tariff on Indian goods and a tightening of sanctions on Russia, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration says India’s purchases of cheap Russian oil help finance Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

“The United States itself still buys nuclear fuel from us for its own nuclear power plants. That is also fuel,” Putin told India Today.

“If the U.S. has the right to buy our fuel, why shouldn’t India have the same privilege? This question deserves thorough examination, and we stand ready to discuss it, including with President Trump,” he said.

India has said Trump’s tariffs are unjustified and unreasonable and pointed at ongoing U.S. trade with Moscow. The U.S. and European Union continue to import billions of dollars worth of Russian energy and commodities, ranging from liquefied natural gas to enriched uranium.

“There is a certain decline in overall trade turnover during the first nine months of this year,” Putin said when asked if Indian oil purchases had fallen under pressure from the West.

“This is just a minor adjustment. Overall, our trade turnover stands almost at the same level as before.”

He added: “Trade in petroleum products and crude oil … Russian oil, is running smoothly in India.”

Asked how India and Russia should deal with Trump and his tariffs, Putin said the U.S. President has advisers who believe that implementing such tariff policies ultimately benefits the U.S. economy. “We hope that, in the end, all violations of World Trade Organization regulations will be rectified,” he said.

Hours earlier, Modi received Putin at the airport in Delhi, a rare gesture underlining the warm ties between the leaders.

They embraced on a red carpet on the tarmac and then drove away in the same vehicle for a private dinner hosted by Modi.

Senior Russian ministers and a large Russian business delegation were in New Delhi for Putin’s visit and the two leaders will hold summit talks on Friday when they are expected to announce a raft of deals.

“Delighted to welcome my friend, President Putin to India. India-Russia friendship is a time-tested one that has greatly benefited our people,” Modi posted on X ahead of the dinner.

India and Russia aim to raise two-way trade to $100 billion by 2030. Their commerce rose more than five-fold from about $13 billion in 2021 to near $69 billion in 2024–25, almost entirely driven by Indian energy imports.

Bilateral trade eased to $28.25 billion in April–August 2025, reflecting a decline in crude oil imports.

At the same time, India is looking for new destinations to increase exports of its goods hit by the punishing 50% tariff imposed by Trump.

Russia wants to import more Indian goods to balance bilateral trade, which is currently heavily skewed towards energy, Deputy Kremlin Chief of Staff Maxim Oreshkin told a business conference in New Delhi earlier on Thursday.

Indian Trade Minister Piyush Goyal said New Delhi wants to diversify exports to Russia and increase sales of automobiles, electronics goods, data-processing equipment, heavy machinery, industrial components, textiles, and foodstuffs.

The sons of Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan fear authorities are concealing “something irreversible” about his condition after more than three weeks with no evidence that he is still alive, one of them said, Reuters reported.

As court-ordered prison visits stay blocked and rumours swirl about possible prison transfers, his son, Kasim Khan, told Reuters the family has had no direct or verifiable contact with Khan, despite a judicial order for weekly meetings.

“Not knowing whether your father is safe, injured or even alive is a form of psychological torture,” he said in written remarks, adding that there had been no independently confirmed communication for a couple of months.

“Today we have no verifiable information at all about his condition,” the son added. “Our greatest fear is that something irreversible is being hidden from us.”

The family has repeatedly sought access for Khan’s personal physician, who has not been allowed to examine him for more than a year, he added.

Pakistan’s interior ministry did not respond to a request for comment. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a jail official told Reuters that Khan was in good health, adding that he was not aware of any plan for a move to a higher-security facility.

Khan, 73, has been in jail since August 2023, convicted in a string of cases that he says were politically driven following his ouster in a 2022 parliamentary vote, read the report.

His first conviction centred on accusations that he unlawfully sold gifts received in office, in a proceeding widely referred to as the Toshakhana case.

Later verdicts added lengthy jail terms, including 10 years on accusations of leaking a diplomatic cable and 14 years in a separate graft case tied to the Al-Qadir Trust, a charity project prosecutors say figured in improper land deals.

Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), says the prosecutions aim to exclude him from public life and elections.

The family says the lack of communication has fuelled fears over what it calls a deliberate effort to push Khan out of public sight.

Television channels have been told not to use Khan’s name or image, leaving only a single grainy court picture on the internet as the only glimpse of him since his imprisonment.

“This isolation is intentional,” Kasim said, referring to the authorities he believes are keeping his father cut off. “They are scared of him. He is Pakistan’s most popular leader and they know they cannot defeat him democratically.”

Kasim and his older brother Suleiman Isa Khan, who live in London with their mother, Jemima Goldsmith, have kept a distance from Pakistan’s dynastic politics, Reuters reported.

The brothers, who call him “Abba”, have spoken publicly only sparingly mainly about Khan’s imprisonment.

Kasim added that the last time they saw their father was in November 2022, when they visited Pakistan after he survived an assassination attempt.

“That image has stayed with me ever since. Seeing our father in that state is something you don’t forget,” Kasim said.

“We were told he would recover with time. Now, after weeks of total silence and no proof of life, that memory carries a different weight.”

The family was pursuing internal and external avenues, such as appeals to international human rights organisations, and wanted court-ordered access restored immediately, he said.

“This is not just a political dispute,” Kasim said. “It is a human rights emergency. Pressure must come from every direction. We draw strength from him, but we need to know he is safe.”