Indian Military Says Pakistani Troops Fired at Positions along Border in Disputed Kashmir Overnight

Indian security force personnel stand guard on the banks of Dal Lake, following a suspected militant attack near south Kashmir's Pahalgam, in Srinagar April 25, 2025. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
Indian security force personnel stand guard on the banks of Dal Lake, following a suspected militant attack near south Kashmir's Pahalgam, in Srinagar April 25, 2025. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
TT

Indian Military Says Pakistani Troops Fired at Positions along Border in Disputed Kashmir Overnight

Indian security force personnel stand guard on the banks of Dal Lake, following a suspected militant attack near south Kashmir's Pahalgam, in Srinagar April 25, 2025. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
Indian security force personnel stand guard on the banks of Dal Lake, following a suspected militant attack near south Kashmir's Pahalgam, in Srinagar April 25, 2025. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

Pakistani soldiers fired at Indian posts all along the highly militarized frontier in disputed Kashmir for a second consecutive night, the Indian military said Saturday, as tensions continued to escalate between nuclear-armed rivals following a deadly attack on tourists.
The Indian army said in a statement on Saturday that soldiers from multiple Pakistani army posts overnight opened fire at Indian troops “all across the Line of Control” in Kashmir. “Indian troops responded appropriately with small arms,” the statement said, calling the firing “unprovoked.”
There were no casualties reported, the statement added.
On Friday, the Indian army said Pakistani soldiers had fired at an Indian post in Gurez sector with small arms late the previous night.
There was no immediate comment from Pakistan, and the incidents could not be independently verified. In the past, each side has accused the other of starting border skirmishes in the Himalayan region.
An uneasy calm prevailed in Pakistan-administered Kashmir on Saturday. Markets and bazaars were open and there was no sign of evacuations from villages located near the Line of Control.
Attack caused spiking tensions
India has described the massacre in which gunmen killed 26 people, most of them Indian tourists, as a “terror attack” and accused Pakistan of backing it.
Pakistan denied any connection to the attack near the resort town of Pahalgam in India-controlled Kashmir, and the attack was claimed by a previously unknown militant group calling itself the Kashmir Resistance.
Tuesday’s attack in Kashmir was the restive region's worst assault targeting civilians in years. In the days since, tensions have risen dangerously between India and Pakistan, which have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, which is split between them and claimed by both in its entirety.
On Wednesday, India suspended a crucial water-sharing treaty that has withstood two wars between the countries and closed their only functional land border crossing. A day later, India revoked all visas issued to Pakistani nationals with effect from Sunday.
Pakistan responded angrily that it had nothing to do with the attack, and canceled visas issued to Indian nationals, closed its airspace to all Indian-owned or Indian-operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India. Nationals from both sides began heading back to their home countries through the Wagah border near Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore on Friday.
Islamabad also warned that any Indian attempt to stop or divert the flow of water would be considered an “act of war.” The suspension of the water treaty could lead to water shortages at a time when parts of Pakistan are already struggling with drought and declining rainfall.
“Pakistan is fully prepared to confront any Indian aggression,” the country's Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said in a televised statement Friday.
New Delhi describes all militancy in Kashmir as Pakistan-backed terrorism. Pakistan denies this, and many Muslim Kashmiris consider the militants to be part of a home-grown freedom struggle.
Iran offers to mediate while Trump declines to engage
With tensions high between the two countries, Iran offered mediation, while US President Donald Trump said he expected them to work out their differences.
“Tehran stands ready to use its good offices in Islamabad and New Delhi to forge greater understanding at this difficult time,” Iranian Foreign Minister Syed Abbas Araghchi said on Friday
“India and Pakistan are brotherly neighbors of Iran, enjoying relations rooted in centuries-old cultural and civilizational ties. Like other neighbors, we consider them our foremost priority,” Araghchi wrote in a social media post.
Trump on Friday said “there’s great tension between Pakistan and India, but there always has been.”
Trump, who spoke on board Air Force One, did not answer when asked by reporters whether he would contact leaders of the two countries, but said “they’ll get it figured out one way or the other.”
The US has long called for calm between India and Pakistan, and mediated between the two rivals during a major border skirmish in 1999.
US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard expressed solidarity with India.
“We are with you and support you as you hunt down those responsible for this heinous attack,” Gabbard said in a post on social media platform X.
On Friday, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said senior diplomats from Saudi Arabia and Iran had spoken with Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar to discuss the ongoing regional situation.
India has already briefed the envoys of all G-20 countries and Gulf nations, apprising them of the incident and steps taken by New Delhi.



Pope Leo Appeals for Israel to Allow Humanitarian Aid in Gaza 

Pope Leo XIV blesses the crowd at the end of his first weekly general audience at St. Peter's Square in The Vatican on May 21, 2025. (AFP)
Pope Leo XIV blesses the crowd at the end of his first weekly general audience at St. Peter's Square in The Vatican on May 21, 2025. (AFP)
TT

Pope Leo Appeals for Israel to Allow Humanitarian Aid in Gaza 

Pope Leo XIV blesses the crowd at the end of his first weekly general audience at St. Peter's Square in The Vatican on May 21, 2025. (AFP)
Pope Leo XIV blesses the crowd at the end of his first weekly general audience at St. Peter's Square in The Vatican on May 21, 2025. (AFP)

Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday appealed for Israel to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, calling the situation in the Palestinian enclave "yet more worrying and saddening".

"I renew my fervent appeal to allow for the entry of fair humanitarian help and to bring to an end the hostilities, the devastating price of which is paid by children, the elderly and the sick," the pope said during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square.

Leo, the former Cardinal Robert Prevost, was elected the leader of the Catholic Church on May 8 to succeed the late Pope Francis. He has mentioned the situation in Gaza several times in the first weeks of his papacy.

In his first Sunday message on May 11, the new pope called for an immediate ceasefire and for the release of all Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

Israel said on Monday that it would allow aid to enter Gaza after an 11-week blockade on the enclave, but the United Nations said no help had been distributed as of Tuesday.

Leo's appeal comes a day after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his government had paused free trade talks with Israel and summoned the Israeli ambassador to the UK over the situation in Gaza.

Israel says it plans to intensify military operations against Hamas and to control the whole of Gaza, which has been devastated by an Israeli air and ground war since Hamas' cross-border attack on Israeli communities in October 2023.

Israel has said its blockade is aimed in part at preventing Palestinian gunmen from diverting and seizing aid supplies. Hamas has denied doing so.