PAHALGAM, India: At least 24 people were killed in Indian-administered Kashmir when gunmen opened fire on tourists on Tuesday, a senior police officer told AFP, with authorities calling it the worst attack on civilians in years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi decried the “heinous act” in the summer retreat of Pahalgam, pledging the attackers “will be brought to justice.”
A tour guide told AFP he reached the scene after hearing gunfire and transported some of the wounded away on horseback.
“I saw a few men lying on the ground looking like they were dead,” said Waheed, who gave only one name.
The attack targeted tourists in Pahalgam, which lies about 90 kilometers (55 miles) by road from the key city of Srinagar.
The senior police officer in the region, speaking on condition of anonymity, described a massacre in which at least 24 people had been killed.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but rebels in the Muslim-majority region have waged an insurgency since 1989.
They are seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan, which controls a smaller part of the Kashmir region and, like India, claims it in full.
The killings come a day after Modi met with US Vice President JD Vance, who is on a four-day tour of India with his wife Usha and children.
Vance offered his and Usha’s condolences to the “victims of the devastating terrorist attack in Pahalgam.”
“Our thoughts and prayers are with them as they mourn this horrific attack,” he wrote on X.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said that “the attack is much larger than anything we’ve seen directed at civilians in recent years,” with the death toll “still being ascertained.”
“This attack on our visitors is an abomination,” he said in a statement. “The perpetrators of this attack are animals, inhuman and worthy of contempt.”
An AFP reporter at Pahalgam spoke to another witness of the shooting who asked not to be identified.
“The militants, I can’t say how many, came out of the forest near an open small meadow and started firing,” said the witness, who cares for the horses that are popular with tourists in the area.
“They were clearly sparing women and kept shooting at men, sometimes single shot and sometimes many bullets, it was like a storm.”
The witness said dozens of people fled as the gunmen opened fire.
“They all started running around in panic,” he added.
“We tried to comfort them but they were just screaming... we helped carry some injured out of there on ponies.”
India’s interior minister Amit Shah flew to Kashmir and vowed those responsible would be caught.
“Those involved in this dastardly act of terror will not be spared, and we will come down heavily on the perpetrators with the harshest consequences,” Shah said in a statement.
One security source said that foreign tourists were among those shot, but there was no official confirmation.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, in a post on X, said he was “deeply saddened by the heinous terror attack on tourists,” adding that his nation “stands united with India.”
Medics at a hospital in Anantnag said they had received some of the wounded, including at least two with gunshot wounds, one with a bullet injury to the neck.
Rahul Gandhi, leader of India’s main opposition Congress party, called the killings “heartbreaking.”
India has an estimated 500,000 soldiers permanently deployed in the territory, but fighting decreased since Modi’s government revoked Kashmir’s limited autonomy in 2019.
“Their evil agenda will never succeed. Our resolve to fight terrorism is unshakable and it will get even stronger,” Modi said in a statement following the attack.
In recent years, the authorities have heavily promoted the mountainous region as a holiday destination, both for skiing during the winter months, and to escape the sweltering heat during the summer elsewhere in India.
Around 3.5 million tourists visited Kashmir in 2024, according to official figures, the majority domestic visitors.
In 2023, India hosted a G20 tourism meeting in Srinagar under tight security in a bid to show that what officials call “normalcy and peace” were returning after a massive crackdown.
A string of resorts are being developed, including some close to the heavily militarised de facto border that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
India regularly blames Pakistan for backing gunmen behind the insurgency.
Islamabad denies the allegation, saying it only supports Kashmir’s struggle for self-determination.
The worst attack in recent years took place in Pulwama in February 2019, when insurgents rammed a car packed with explosives into a police convoy killing 40 and wounding at least 35 others.
The deadliest recent attack on civilians was in March 2000, when 36 people, all Indian civilians, were killed.
At least 24 killed in Kashmir attack on tourists: Indian police source
https://arab.news/533mm
At least 24 killed in Kashmir attack on tourists: Indian police source
- The senior police officer in the region, speaking on condition of anonymity, described a massacre in which at least 24 people had been killed
- No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but rebels in the Muslim-majority region have waged an insurgency since 1989
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wins a second three-year term
The Australian Electoral Commission’s projections gave Albanese’s ruling center-left Labour Party 70 seats
MELBOURNE: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has become the first Australian prime minister to win a second consecutive three-year term in 21 years.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton conceded defeat in Saturday’s election, saying, “We didn’t do well enough during this campaign, that much is obvious tonight, and I accept full responsibility for that.”
“Earlier on, I called the prime minister to congratulate him on his success tonight. It’s a historic occasion for the Labour Party and we recognize that,” he added.
The Australian Electoral Commission’s projections gave Albanese’s ruling center-left Labour Party 70 seats and the conservative opposition coalition 24 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives, the lower chamber where parties need a majority to form governments. Unaligned minor parties and independent candidates appeared likely to win 13 seats.
Australian Broadcasting Corp. respected election analyst Antony Green predicted Labor would win 76 seats, the coalition 36 and unaligned lawmakers 13. Green said Labor would form a majority or minority government and that the coalition had no hope of forming even a minority government.
Energy policy and inflation have been major issues in the campaign, with both sides agreeing the country faces a cost of living crisis.
Opposition leader branded ‘DOGE-y Dutton’
Dutton’s conservative Liberal Party blames government waste for fueling inflation and increasing interest rates, and has pledged to ax more than one in five public service jobs to reduce government spending.
While both say the country should reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, Dutton argues that relying on more nuclear power instead of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind turbines would deliver less expensive electricity.
The ruling center-left Labour Party has branded the opposition leader “DOGE-y Dutton” and accused his party of mimicking US President Donald Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency.
Labor argues Dutton’s administration would slash services to pay for its nuclear ambitions.
“We’ve seen the attempt to run American-style politics here of division and pitting Australians against each other and I think that’s not the Australian way,” Albanese said.
Albanese also noted that his government had improved relations with China, which removed a series of official and unofficial trade barriers that had cost Australian exporters 20 billion Australian dollars ($13 billion) a year since Labor came to power in 2022.
A cost of living crisis as the country faces generational change
The election is taking place against a backdrop of what both sides of politics describe as a cost of living crisis.
Foodbank Australia, the nation’s largest food relief charity, reported 3.4 million households in the country of 27 million people experienced food insecurity last year.
That meant Australians were skipping meals, eating less or worrying about running out of food before they could afford to buy more.
The central bank reduced its benchmark cash interest rate by a quarter percentage point in February to 4.1 percent in an indication that the worst of the financial hardship had passed. The rate is widely expected to be cut again at the bank’s next board meeting on May 20, this time to encourage investment amid the international economic uncertainty generated by Trump’s tariff policies.
Both campaigns have focused on Australia’s changing demographics. The election is the first in Australia in which Baby Boomers, born between born between the end of World War II and 1964, are outnumbered by younger voters.
Both campaigns promised policies to help first-home buyers buy into a property market that is too expensive for many.
The election could produce a minority government
Going into the election, Labor held a narrow majority of 78 seats in a 151-seat House of Representatives. There will be 150 seats in the next parliament due to redistributions.
A loss of more than two seats could force Labor to attempt to form a minority government with the support of unaligned lawmakers.
There was a minority government after the 2010 election, and the last one before that was during World War II.
The last time neither party won a majority, it took 17 days after the polls closed before key independent lawmakers announced they would support a Labor administration.
‘Unremitting violence’ against Myanmar civilians must end, says UN rights chief
- More than 200 civilians were killed in airstrikes last month after March’s devastating earthquake killed at least 3,800
- Warring factions in civil war launched ‘relentless attacks’ despite month-long ceasefire
NEW YORK CITY: Civilians in war-torn Myanmar are facing “unremitting violence” despite a month-long ceasefire that was reached in the wake of March’s devastating earthquake, the UN’s human rights chief has said.
It comes after the country’s military regime launched at least 243 attacks since the March 28 earthquake.
More than 200 civilians were reportedly killed in the strikes.
“Amid so many crises around the world, the unbearable suffering of the people in Myanmar cannot be forgotten,” Volker Turk said on Friday.
“The vast majority of attacks happened after April 2 when the Myanmar military and the National Unity Government announced unilateral ceasefires,” he added.
The earthquake in March killed more than 3,800 people and decimated infrastructure across the country.
More than 55,000 homes were damaged and destroyed across several regions of Myanmar.
The disaster compounded an already dire humanitarian situation in the Southeast Asian country, with more than one-third of the population of almost 20 million people requiring assistance even before the earthquake.
The country’s military regime and the opposition National Unity Government announced a temporary ceasefire after the disaster.
It was extended in mid-April and expired on April 30.
Civil society sources recorded repeat violations of the ceasefire by the military, including numerous attacks on civilian rescuers shortly after the earthquake.
Myanmar’s civil war, which began in 2021, has killed almost 80,000 people.
“Families already displaced by years of conflict now face early torrential rains, extreme heat and rising risk of disease” in the wake of the earthquake, the UN said.
According to a World Health Organization report published on Friday, more than 450,000 people in Myanmar require critical health services, but only about 33,600 have been reached.
Turk warned that the “relentless attacks” carried out by warring parties in the country are “affecting a population already heavily beleaguered and exhausted by years of conflict.”
The fighting is also disrupting efforts to deliver essential aid to people across Myanmar, he added.
“International law is clear that humanitarian aid must be able to reach those in need without impediment,” Turk said.
“This is the time to put people first, to prioritize their human rights and humanitarian needs, and to achieve a peaceful resolution to this crisis.”
UN officials in Myanmar have also sounded the alarm on the deteriorating situation in the country.
Marcoluigi Corsi, humanitarian and resident coordinator ad interim for Myanmar, spoke to the press in New York City via video link from Yangon on Thursday.
One month on from the earthquake, “the suffering is immense and the stakes are very high,” he said.
Corsi called on the international community to urgently deliver their pledged aid amounts, and that “without timely action, the crisis would get worse.”
Early last month, the UN and its humanitarian partners launched a $275 million appeal as an addition to a major humanitarian strategy to reach about 1.1 million people in need across Myanmar.
Yet the appeal has only received $34 million in pledges, Corsi said, adding: “Lives depend on our collective commitment to delivering the support that is desperately needed … the time to act is now.”
Russia accuses Zelensky of making ‘direct threat’ to May 9 events
- “He is threatening the physical safety of veterans,” Zakharova said
MOSCOW: Russia on Saturday accused Volodymyr Zelensky of threatening the security of its World War II commemorations on May 9, after the Ukrainian president said Kyiv would not “take responsibility” for ensuring safety on the day.
“He is threatening the physical safety of veterans who will come to parades and celebrations on the holy day,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram. “His statement ... is, of course, a direct threat.”
Terminally ill Syrian woman permitted to enter UK after govt U-turn
- Soaad Al-Shawa has been given weeks to live by doctors
- She was initially denied request to see her daughter and son-in-law who fled Syria in 2015
LONDON: A Syrian woman dying of cancer will travel to the UK to see her grandchildren, whom she has never met, after a UK Home Office decision.
Soaad Al-Shawa, who has liver cancer and has been given just weeks to live by doctors, was initially denied a family-reunion request by the UK government, The Guardian reported.
She had asked to travel to Britain to meet up with her daughter Ola Al-Hamwi, son-in-law Mostafa Amonajid, and their three children, aged seven, five and one.
The family fled Syria in 2015 — unable to take Al-Shawa with them — and now reside in Glasgow. Since then. Al-Shawa has only communicated with her grandchildren via video calls.
She received a terminal cancer diagnosis late last year, and her daughter applied for a refugee family reunion in the UK, which was rejected. The family appealed and, in April, an immigration judge agreed to overturn the decision.
However, the UK Home Office later sought permission to appeal the judge’s ruling, in a move that may have taken at least eight months.
Al-Shawa may not have that long to live, with her daughter saying at the time that the decision was “breaking her heart.” Now, the Home Office has told the family’s lawyer it is withdrawing the decision, meaning Al-Shawa can travel to the UK, and that it will also expedite the issuing of a visa for her.
Al-Hamwi hopes that the visa will be processed in Jordan this weekend, and that her husband can travel there to collect her mother. Refugees cannot return to the country they fled from neither Al-Hamwi and Amonajid are able to enter Syria.
Al-Hamwi said: “My mum really perked up when she heard the news and started to eat more. All she wants to do before she dies is to see us and the kids.”
Amonajid said: “I appreciate the Home Office for listening to Ola and me. The kids are so excited they are finally going to meet their grandmother. She will be sleeping in their bedroom and they are fighting over who will sleep next to her.”
The family’s solicitor, Usman Aslam of Mukhtar & Co, said: “We welcome the Home Office decision to withdraw from this case and, moreover, to assist in expediting it.
“We now hope that a daughter and mother can spend whatever time the mother has left together. Refugees are no different from anyone else. They, too, have lives, families and dignity.”
Pakistan test fires ballistic missile as tensions with India spike after Kashmir gun massacre
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan test-fired Saturday a ballistic missile as tensions with India spiked over last week’s deadly attack on tourists in the disputed Kashmir region.
The surface-to-surface missile has a range of 450 kilometers (about 280 miles), the Pakistani military said.
The launch of the Abdali Weapon System was aimed at ensuring the “operational readiness of troops and validating key technical parameters,” including the missile’s advanced navigation system and enhanced manoeuvrability features, according to a statement from the military.
Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated the scientists, engineers and those behind the successful missile test.
