Villagers tell BBC they survived shelling in Indian-administered Kashmir

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Exactly 21 days before
Aamir Peerzada

Reporting from Kashmir, which is administered by India

BBC Badrudin and a woman lying in a hospital bedBBC

On Wednesday night, ruined houses were still smoldering in the Indian-administered Kashmir village of Salamabad.

This little town is close to the Line of Control that separates Pakistan- and Indian-administered Kashmir, the site of the quickly escalating tensions that have caused India to launch attacks on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir on Tuesday night.

The next day, Salamabad’s streets were almost entirely bare. According to locals, Muslim shelling hit the town.

The majority of the citizens had already fled the assault, leaving chickens gnawing in their cages in gardens.

A ruined home in Muridke

A loud blast woke us up as a local merchant who witnessed the loss, according to Bashir Ahmad, who was a witness to the destruction.

By 03:00, mortar shells had landed close to a liquid bridge, and they had blasted many homes, ignoring them.

We have no security bunkers to camp in because the government did not issue any warnings or consulting regarding the cross-border shooting.

An elderly man stands on a road and looks into the camera, wearing traditional garb, homes made of stone and tin behind him

This kind of shooting is not new to Salamabad: up until 2021, incidents of cross-border fireplace were routinely reported.

However, a military peace agreement between the two nations significantly reduced the number of attacks.

Up until Wednesday night, things were back to standard for the most part, free of fear.

Doubt is now roiling over the villages scattered along the Line of Control after more.

Mr. Ahmad estimated that only a small number of Salamabad’s 100 or so residents were still alive, the rest having fled in search of security from what he thought was the most powerful shelling in a long time.

Two houses in the town had been torn aside by cement in the community.

A stone home with a tin roof has a hole in its side

Some dinnerware had remained impossible to find up on a table in a hole in the wall of one property while everyone else lay shattered or burned.

The size of the firepower they encountered immediately was unmatchable for the smaller homes.

Their iron roofs sunk above them, completely hollow out by bombs and fire.

Badrudin claimed he was hurt in the shooting, along with this eight-year-old boy and sister-in-law, at a hospital 40 kilometers away.

The inside of a ruined stone home, with the tin roof caved in

He identified one of the destroyed homes as his in a photo.

We were all snoring when a cement tank landed near our houses, he said. The kids slept in as well.

We miraculously managed to flee despite the intense shooting.

Badrudin claimed to have paid off a loan of 3 lakhs ($ 3, 540,$ 2, 653 ) to construct his family’s home in Salamabad.

” Everything is gone now, he said. We’re also afraid to go back.

He continued,” We need the authorities to step in and provide assistance because it will be very difficult to rebuild the house.

We desire peace, no war.

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Signs suggest Beijing’s uneasy over growing Pyongyang-Moscow ties – Asia Times

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Chinese authorities in the northeastern city of Shenyang reportedly arrested a North Korean IT specialist in late April, accusing him of stealing drone technology secrets.

The suspect, apparently linked to North Korea’s main missile development agency, was part of a wider network operating in China, according to the story, first reported by South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. In response, Pyongyang was said to have recalled IT personnel in China.

The story was later circulated by several Chinese online outlets. Given the tight censorship in China, this implies a degree of tacit editorial approval from Beijing – although some sites later deleted the story. In a response to Yonhap over the alleged incident, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson noted that North Korea and China were “friendly neighbors” that maintained “normal” personnel exchanges, without denying the details.

The incident suggests a rare semipublic spat between the two neighboring communist countries, contradicting the image of China and North Korea as “brothers in arms.”

As a scholar of Northeast Asian security, I see the arrest – which has gotten little attention in English-language media – as representative of a wider, more nuanced picture of the two countries’ current relations. There are signs that Beijing is growing frustrated with Pyongyang – not least over North Korea’s increasing closeness with Moscow. Such a development challenges China’s traditional role as North Korea’s primary patron.

In short, the arrest could be a symptom of worsening ties between the two countries.

Beijing’s dilemma over North Korea

North Korea has long been seen by Beijing as both a strategic security buffer and within the natural Chinese sphere of influence.

From China’s perspective, allowing a hostile force to gain control of the peninsula – and especially the north – could open the door to future military threats. This fear partly explained why China intervened during the Korean War of 1950-1953.

Beyond security, North Korea also serves as an ideological ally. Both countries are run by communist parties, although the Chinese Communist Party operates a Leninist party-state system with a partial embrace of market capitalism while the Workers’ Party of Korea runs a rigid socialist state characterized by a strong personality cult.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands during Kim’s visit to China in March 2018. Photo: Xinhua

Even today, Chinese state media continue to highlight the bonds of “comradeship” with Pyongyang.

However, Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions have long troubled Beijing. North Korea has conducted multiple nuclear tests since 2006 and is now believed to possess nuclear weapons capable of targeting South Korea, Japan and US bases in the region.

China supports a denuclearized and stable Korean peninsula – both for regional peace and for economic growth. Like the US, Japan and South Korea, China opposes nuclear proliferation. It fears North Korea’s periodic tests could provoke US military action or trigger an arms race in the region.

Meanwhile, Washington and its allies continue to pressure Beijing to do more to rein in a neighbor often viewed as a vassal state of China.

Given China’s economic ties with the US and with Washington’s East Asian allies – mainly South Korea and Japan – it has every reason to avoid further instability from Pyongyang.

Yet to North Korea’s isolationist rulers, nuclear weapons are vital for the regime’s survival and independence. What’s more, nuclear weapons can also limit Beijing’s influence.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un worries that without nuclear leverage, China could try to interfere in the internal affairs of his country. After the death if Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il, in 2011, Beijing was thought to favor Kim Jong Un’s elder half-brother Kim Jong Nam as successor — possibly prompting Kim Jong Un to have him assassinated in 2017.

But despite ongoing tensions over the nuclear issue, China has continued to support the North Korean regime for strategic reasons.

For decades, China has been Pyongyang’s top trading partner, providing crucial economic aid. In 2023, China accounted for about 98% of North Korea’s official trade and continued to supply food and fuel to keep the regime afloat.

Pyongyang pals up with Putin

Yet over the past few years, more of North Korea’s imports, notably oil, have come from another source: Russia.

North Korea and Russia had been close allies during the Cold War, but ties cooled after the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s.

More recently, a shared hostility toward the US and the West in general has brought the two nations closer.

Moscow’s international isolation following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine and its deteriorating ties with South Korea in particular have pushed it toward Pyongyang. North Korea has reportedly supplied large quantities of ammunition to Russia, becoming a critical munitions supplier in the Ukraine war.

Though both governments deny the arms trade – banned under United Nations sanctions – North Korea is thought to have received fuel, food and access to Russian military and space technology in return. On March 8, 2025, North Korea unveiled a nuclear-powered submarine that experts believe may involve Russian technological assistance.

By 2024, Russian forces were using around 10,000 shells per day in Ukraine, with half sourced from North Korea. Some front-line units were reportedly using North Korean ammunition for up to 60% of their firepower.

Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin. Photo: Wikipedia

High-level visits have also increased. In July 2023, Russia’s defense minister, Andrey Belousov, visited Pyongyang for the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, followed by Kim Jong Un’s visit to Russia in September for a summit with President Vladimir Putin.

In June 2024, Putin visited Pyongyang, where the two countries signed a comprehensive strategic cooperation agreement, including a pledge that each would come to the other’s aid if attacked.

Soon after, North Korea began sending troops to support Russia. Intelligence from the U.S., South Korea and Ukraine indicates that Pyongyang deployed 10,000 to 12,000 soldiers in late 2023, marking its first involvement in a major conflict since the Korean War. Russia reportedly pays at least US$2,000 per month plus a bonus. For Pyongyang, this move provides not only financial gain but also combat experience, useful in case war ever reignites on the Korean Peninsula.

Why China is worried

China, too, has remained on friendly terms with Russia since the war in Ukraine began. So why would it feel uneasy about the growing closeness between Pyongyang and Moscow?

For starters, China views Pyongyang’s outreach to Moscow as a challenge to its traditional role as North Korea’s main patron. While still dependent on Chinese aid, North Korea appears to be seeking greater autonomy.

The strengthening of Russia-North Korea ties also fuels Western fears of an “axis of upheaval” involving all three countries.

Unlike North Korea’s confrontational stance toward the West and its neighbor to the south, Beijing has offered limited support to Moscow during the Ukraine war and is cautious not to appear part of a trilateral alliance.

Behind this strategy is a desire on behalf of China to maintain stable relations with the US, Europe and key Asian neighbors like Japan and South Korea. Doing so may be the best way for Beijing to protect its economic and diplomatic interests.

China is also concerned that with Russian support in nuclear and missile technologies, Pyongyang may act more provocatively — through renewed nuclear tests or military clashes with South Korea. And this would only destabilize the region and strain China’s ties with the West.

A defiant and provocative Pyongyang

The timing of the alleged spy drama may offer further clues regarding the state of relations.

It came just a day after North Korea officially confirmed it had deployed troops to aid the Russian war effort. It also announced plans to erect a monument in Pyongyang honoring its soldiers who died in the Ukraine war.

The last spy case like this was in June 2016 when Chinese authorities arrested a North Korean citizen in the border city of Dandong. It reportedly followed Pyongyang informing China that it would permanently pursue its nuclear weapons program.

The China-North Korea relationship deteriorated further when North Korea successfully tested a hydrogen bomb in September 2016, prompting Beijing to back UN Security Council sanctions against Pyongyang.

Again, this time North Korea shows little sign of bending to China’s will. On April 30, Kim oversaw missile launches from North Korea’s first 5,000-ton destroyer, touted as its most heavily armed warship.

None of which will help ease Beijing’s concerns. While China still sees Pyongyang as a critical buffer against US influence in Northeast Asia, an increasingly provocative North Korea, fueled by a growing relationship with Russia, is starting to look less like a strategic asset — and more like a liability.

Linggong Kong is a PhD candidate in political science at Auburn University.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Militant group chief says relatives killed in India strike

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The Pakistan-based head of a violent party has said 10 of his friends have been killed in a missile attack by India.

Masood Azhar, commander of Jaish-e-Mohammed ( JeM), said his older sister and her husband, his brother and his brother’s wife, his sister and five kids from his family were killed in a hit on a mosque in Bahawalpur, Pakistan.

India launched attacks on websites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir on Tuesday evening. Islamabad called the hits an “act of battle”.

India said it acted in response to a violent assault in Indian-administered Kashmir two weeks ago that killed 25 Indians and one Nepali. Pakistan has denied involvement in the assault.

American police alleged that two of the intruders were Pakistani immigrants, with Delhi accusing Pakistan of supporting extremists- a command Islamabad denies.

India said it targeted places on Tuesday evening “from where criminal attacks against India have been planned and directed”.

Pakistan said six spots have been hit, but denies India’s claims of these being criminal system.

India said JeM’s office in Bahawalpur, 100km inside Pakistan, was hit.

Video footage of the dome, assessed by BBC Verify, showed one of its arches had collapsed and considerable injury occurred inside, including two openings in the ceiling and one in the ground.

In Bahawalpur on Wednesday, masses were mourning those killed in the cuts immediately in funeral festivities through the streets.

Local occupants told the BBC they were upset about the harm, but also concerned about Pakistan’s possible answer.

Azhar founded JeM in 1999 upon his release from prison in India. JeM has been linked to al Qaeda and the Taliban, the UN Security Council has said. The UN designated Azhar as a criminal in 2019.

India blamed an attack on American legislature in 2001 on JeM- a state JeM denies. Pakistan banned the party shortly after that.

JeM said it carried out a bomb attack in February 2019 that killed 40 paramilitary authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Bangladeshi officials said India’s attacks on Tuesday nights killed 31 people. According to Indian authorities, Muslim shooting claimed the lives of at least 15 civilians.

The international community has been making immediate appeals for restraint as a result of the increase between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

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Kashmir: Why India and Pakistan fight over it

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15 days ago
Reuters Pakistani men in Lahore chant slogans at a rally expressing solidarity with the people of Kashmir.Reuters

India and Pakistan, two nuclear-armed neighbors, have engaged in two war and a brief fight over Kashmir.

But why do they contest the area’s origins and why?

How old is this issue, exactly?

Kashmir is a Himalayan region with a diverse ethnic makeup known for the beauty of its rivers, grasslands, and snow-capped hills.

The place was thorny before India and Pakistan’s independence from Britain in August 1947.

Muslim-majority Kashmir was free to acquiesce to either India or Pakistan under the partition schedule provided by the Indian Independence Act.

Initial demands for independence for the maharaja ( local ruler ), Hari Singh, were met with by the maharaja ( local ruler ), Hari Singh, who sided with India in exchange for Pakistan’s support of an invasion of tribesmen.

India requested intervention from the UN after a bloody conflict broke out. The UN suggested holding a vote to decide whether India or Pakistan may visit the country. Before the vote was be held, the two nations were unable to reach a demilitarization agreement.

India and Pakistan ratified an agreement to create a ceasefire collection in July 1949, and the place split.

AFP Kashmiri men walk by a river near the Line of Control, the de facto border between Pakistan and IndiaAFP

1965 saw the start of a following conflict. Therefore, in 1999, India engaged in a short but contentious issue with Pakistan-backed forces.

India and Pakistan had already been declared nuclear power at the time. Delhi and Islamabad both currently formally assert complete control over Kashmir, but only some of it.

Why has the Indian-administered region experienced so far unrest?

Within Indian-administered Kashmir, there are a wide range of ideas and firmly held beliefs about the state’s legitimate affiliation. Some people prefer a transfer to their semi-autonomous position that they had up until 2019 or do not want it to be governed by India. Some people want total freedom as well.

Religion is another crucial element: Kashmir in India is the only region in India where Muslims make up the majority, with more than 60 % of its population.

Since 1989, an military uprising against Indian rule in the area has been waged, claiming tens of thousands of lives.

India denies that Pakistan supports insurgents in Kashmir, accusing its neighbor.

In the midst of a massive security assault, the state in Delhi in India-administered Kashmir was stripped of its semi-autonomous standing in 2019.

After the state’s special reputation was removed, militancy declined for a number of years, and tourist visits rose exponentially.

What transpired following earlier violent strikes in Kashmir?

India launched” medical attacks” across the Line of Control, the de facto boundary between India and Pakistan, in 2016 after 19 American soldiers were killed in Uri, in an effort to attack alleged violent foundations.

American attacks deep into Balakot in 2019 prompted by the Pulwama attack, which left more than 40 Indian paramilitary officers dead, and sparked hostile assaults and an underwater battle. This was the first such incident to occur inside Pakistan since 1971.

After years of relative serene, when militants killed 26 people in an assault on travellers near the beach town of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, conflicts rekindled in April 2025. In the past 20 years, it was the deadliest civilian harm.

India launched missile strikes on target in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir two weeks later, after more igniting concerns for an increase and urging restraint.

Kashmir is still one of the most militarized regions in the world.

What about the desire for peace?

India and Pakistan did reach a peace in 2003.

Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, promised a strong line to Pakistan when he took office in 2014, but he also expressed interest in pursuing peace talks.

Getty Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif shakes hands with Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the swearing-in ceremony of the NDA government in New Delhi on Tuesday, 27 May, 2014Getty

Nawaz Sharif, next Pakistan’s prime minister, was present at Modi’s swearing-in meeting in Delhi.

However, India eventually attributed an attack on its Pathankot airport in Punjab, which was carried out by Pakistan-based organizations. Modi also canceled a trip to Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, for a 2017 local mountain.

There hasn’t been any improvement in the neighborly talks since next.

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Misleading Kashmir posts obtaining millions of views on X

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Matt Murphy, Olga Robinson & Shayan Sardarizadeh

BBC Verify

Getty Images/SOPA Images An Indian soldier stands guard. He is armed with a rifle and is wearing army fatigues. In the background is a large truck.Getty Images/SOPA Images

India’s strikes on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir have unleashed a wave of misinformation online, with unrelated videos purporting to be from the strikes gaining millions of views.

Dramatic clips debunked by BBC Verify have claimed to show attacks on an Indian army base and an Indian fighter jet shot down in Pakistan.

One video, which had more than 400,000 views on X at the time of writing, claiming to show an explosion caused by a Pakistani response was actually from the 2020 Beirut Port explosion in Lebanon.

An expert told BBC Verify that in moments of heightened tension or dramatic events, misinformation is more likely to spread and fuel distrust and hostility.

“It’s very common to see recycled footage during any significant event, not just conflict,” Eliot Higgins, the founder of the Bellingcat investigations website, said.

“Algorithmic engagement rewards people who post engaging content, not truthful content, and footage of conflict and disasters is particularly engaging, no matter the truth behind it.”

One of the most viral clips, which gained over 3 million views on X in a matter of hours, claimed to show blasts caused by the Indian strikes on Pakistan-administered Kashmir. A search for screengrabs from the video on Google found the footage actually showed Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip on 13 October 2023.

While much of the debunked footage has purported to show the immediate aftermath of the Indian strikes, some clips analysed by BBC Verify appeared to be trying to portray the Pakistani response as being more severe than it actually was.

One video, which has racked up almost 600,000 views on X, claimed to show that the “Pakistan army blew up the Indian Brigade headquarters”. The clip, which shows blasts in the darkness, is actually from an unrelated video circulating on YouTube as early as last month.

X/Sulaiman Ahmed One of the debunked videos claiming to show an attack on an Indian baseX/Sulaiman Ahmed

Elsewhere, one set of photos purported to show an operation carried out by the Pakistan Air Force targeting “Indian forward air-bases in the early hours of 6 May 2025”. The images – which appeared to be captured by a drone – were actually screengrabs taken from the video game Battlefield 3.

The Pakistani military says it destroyed five jets on Wednesday morning local time. That announcement has led to some users sharing unrelated clips which they claimed showed the wreckage of Indian fighter jets. Some of these videos have obtained millions of views.

But two widely shared images actually showed previous Indian air force jet crashes – one from an incident in Rajasthan in 2024 and another in the Punjab state in 2021. Both crashes were widely reported.

X/Sulaiman Ahmed One of the debunked images claiming to show a crashed Indian air force jet. X/Sulaiman Ahmed

Prof Indrajit Roy of York University said that the images “are being generated with a view to get support for the military in Pakistan”. One clip circulated by the Pakistani military itself was later withdrawn by news agencies after it turned out to be from an unrelated event.

“We have jingoists on both sides of the border, and they have a huge platform on Twitter (X). You can see how fake news, as well as some real news, gets amplified, distorted and presented in ways designed to generate hostility, animosity and hatred for the other side.”

The conflict in Kashmir has long attracted a high degree of misinformation online. In the aftermath of the deadly militant attack on Indian tourists in Pahalgam last month, AI images circulated – with some seeking to dramatise actual scenes from the attack.

Vedika Bahl, a journalist with France 24, said the Pahalgam attacks had prompted a sharp “uptake in misinformation from both sides surrounding the conflict”.

“Lots of this misinformation begins on X,” she said. “Eventually this trickles down over time from X to WhatsApp which is the communication tool which is most used in South Asian communities.”

The BBC Verify logo

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Charges imminent in Bangkok building collapse

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As the research is advancing, at least five designers and audit personnel are anticipated to be summoned.

PUBLISHED: 7 Perhaps 2025 at 21: 30

Excavators were mobilised at the collpase site in Chatuchak district, Bangkok, on April 3, a few days after the collapse on March 28. Pattarapong Chatpattarasill
A few days after the decline on March 28th, excavators were dispatched to the Chatuchak city of Bangkok’s Chatuchak district on April 3. Chatpattarasill Pattarapong Chatpatpatrang

Police are preparing to indict engineers and state audit officials for their roles in the March 28 earthquake-related collapse of Bangkok’s State Audit Office ( SAO ) building.

More than 100 witnesses have been interrogated, according to a source from the Metropolitan Police Bureau ( MPB) on Wednesday, and the investigation is now about 80 % complete.

As part of the research, witnesses, SAO leaders, the people of those who died or were hurt at the site, as well as businesses involved in the building’s design, gave testimony.

These findings will be combined with reviews based on practical samples, reports from the landscape, and criminal officers and experts will examine reports based on evidence from the field.

The 30-story SAO office was the only high-rise framework to decline on March 28 after a Myanmar-centered earthquake shaken the Thai funds. 13 people are also missing, compared to the 81 body found this week, according to searchers.

At least five people are expected to face expenses, including some who were recently interviewed as witnesses, according to the police source as the situation progresses.

Professionals are among those who are suspected of neglect under Section 227 of the Criminal Code, which forbids those in the job from upholding proper standards while performing structure, and Section 238 if such negligence led to casualties.

Audit staff members may be accused, the source said, but on distinct grounds of wrongdoing.

A model for gathering information at the collapse site in the Chatuchak district is currently being discussed by officials from several organizations. The Metropolitan Administration’s ( BMA ) Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Division, Department of Public Works and Town &, Country Planning Division, Department of Special Investigation Division, Police, and forensic units are just a few examples.

The SAO is currently being prepared to hand over the site of the fell building, according to Suriyachai Rawiwan, chairman of the BMA Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.

He claimed that that would have to occur after the search and rescue operations have finished, and a decision needs to be made regarding the location of the information to hold after the decline.

In a related development, Phumtham Wechayachai, the minister of defense, stated at a Wednesday anti-graft workshop that it is difficult to find solutions to problems with building materials. He continued, “everyone may be brought to justice,” and it is the administration’s job to expose the truth.

Two people portraying mule accounts greet Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, right, at an exhibition on addressing corruption, at the Impact Exhibition and Convention Centre on Wednesday. CHANAT KATANYU

At an event on the topic of corruption that took place on Wednesday at the Impact Exhibition and Convention Center, two “mule records” were greeted by Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai. ( Photo: Chanat Katanyu )

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‘60 senators’ to face vote-fixing charges

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Election Commission expected to send out summonses soon in connection with 2024 election

PUBLISHED : 7 May 2025 at 21:16

UPDATED : 7 May 2025 at 21:50

Senate candidates gather for the final round of voting in Nonthaburi province on June 26 last year. (Photo: Pattarapong Chapattarasill)
Senate candidates gather for the final round of voting in Nonthaburi province on June 26 last year. (Photo: Pattarapong Chapattarasill)

The Election Commission (EC) is expected to summon around 60 senators to acknowledge charges related to alleged vote-fixing in last year’s Senate election, a source said on Wednesday.

The senators are accused of violating Sections 32, 36, 62, 70 and 77 of the organic law on the selection of the Senate, said the source on condition of anonymity. If found guilty, they could face one to 10 years in jail and/or a fine between 20,000 and 200,000 baht and revocation of election rights for 20 years.

“Those who are summoned must meet the EC to acknowledge the charge, and they will have the opportunity to clarify the allegations. The EC will review the case, determine if they should be disqualified and ask the Supreme Court to revoke their election rights,” the source said.

The seven-member investigation team is led by Chanin Noilek, deputy secretary-general of the commission. It also comprises three officers from the Department of Special Investigation.

The EC investigation into election fraud is being conducted parallel to one by the DSI, which has been looking into money-laundering allegations related to the Senate polls held last June.

It is widely speculated that the fraud allegations are directed against “blue bloc” senators, a reference to a group known to favour the Bhumjaithai Party, a government coalition member.

The final Senate vote on June 26 produced some highly unusual results, notably a preponderance of winners from provinces where Bhumjaithai is strong electorally. Buri Ram, the home base of party patriarch Newin Chidchob, sent 14 senators to the Upper House. Bangkok elected only nine.

Justice Minister Tawee Sodsong said on Wednesday he has no details about the EC probe, although three DSI investigators are part of the EC investigating team, and the case might use evidence collected by the DSI.

Meanwhile, Senator Pisit Apiwattanawong brushed aside the report about the investigations.

“I’m ready to meet the EC if it summons me. And if the DSI is authorised by the EC to summon me, I will also comply,” he said. “Everything must be done through the EC.”

Dozens of senators have petitioned the National Anti-Corruption (NACC) to investigate what they believe to be malfeasance committed by Pol Col Tawee and DSI director-general Pol Maj Yutthana Praedam. The group alleges the DSI took up the investigation despite having no authority to do so, as all poll-related investigations fall within the jurisdiction of the EC.

Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, the Bhumjaithai leader, on Wednesday distanced himself from the senators said to be facing investigation, while accusing the press of misleading the public about him and his party being linked to them.

Mr Anutin, also the interior minister, said he has made it clear that all government organisations and officials under the ministry, including provincial governors, must fully cooperate with the DSI because the ministry is duty-bound to do so.

He also dismissed speculation in some media reports that his ministry was at odds with the Ministry of Justice over the DSI investigation.

Mr Anutin’s claims followed a development in which Amnat Charoen provincial governor, Narong Thepsena, claimed three men posing as DSI officers pressured two former female Senate candidates to admit to collusion.

Pol Col Tawee later confirmed that DSI officers were recently in the province but said he wasn’t aware of the claimed witness intimidation.

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Kashmir crisis: India strikes Pakistan over tourist killings, Islamabad vows retaliation

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In the worst conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbors in decades, India and Pakistan exchanged heavy weaponry fireplace along their disputed border on May 7 after New Delhi launched deadly missiles at its archrival.

At least 38 deaths have been reported, with New Delhi reporting 12 deaths a result of Muslim shooting, while Islamabad reporting 26 civilian deaths was reported.

India claimed nine “terrorist network” sites, some of which were linked to a shooting by gunmen in Indian Kashmir last month that claimed the lives of 26 people. New Delhi added that its actions were “focused, measured, and non-escalatory in nature.”

The American attacks included goals in Punjab, which is India’s second attack on Pakistan’s most populous state since the last serious conflict between the ancient enemies more than 50 years ago, bringing on the possibility of additional conflicts in one of the world’s most dangerous flashpoints.

Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif accused Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi of starting the attacks to” shelf” his private reputation, adding that Islamabad “won’t take longer to settle the dispute.”

While the government safety commission rejected American allegations of the presence of criminal camps on its territory, Islamabad pledged to answer “at a time, place, and manner of its choosing to kill the loss of innocent Muslim lives and blatant violations of its sovereignty.”

Five American jets were reported down across the frontier, according to military spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, but India did not confirm this claim.

Three fighter jets crashed in different Himalayan regions at night, according to local government solutions in India Kashmir, and their pilots were taken to the hospital, but officials from the American defense ministry have not yet confirmed this.

Afterwards, the Indian Embassy in Beijing referred to rumors that Pakistan had shot down fighter jet as “disinformation.”

In Muzaffarabad, the principal city of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, soldiers blocked the streets around a mosque that Islamabad claimed was attacked, leaving blast marks on the surfaces of many nearby homes.

On Wednesday afternoon, UN military personnel arrived to check the site, which had been blown out of one side.

India also threatened to stop the flow of water along its southern border, which was also targeted by Pakistan, damaging a pond structure in Kashmir.

Islamabad had previously warned that an “act of war” may result from tampering with the river that enter its place.

The most recent violence is more violent than India’s attacks in 2019, when New Delhi claimed to have hit” some extremists” after a suicide bomb attacked an American security power convoy, killing 40.

India was commonly anticipated to answer physically to the April 22 terrorist attack by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, a UN-designated terrorist organization, in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Pakistan has refuted the charges amid calls for an independent investigation, while New Delhi has blamed Islamabad for backing the assault, which has sparked a string of heated challenges and political tit-for-tat methods.

Modi reportedly held a whole Cabinet appointment on Wednesday evening to brief users on the over military operation, according to CNA’s journalist in New Delhi.

The Indian Home Ministry, which is in charge of domestic security, has requested that military forces turn in after being on left.

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India says strikes on Pakistan exercised its ‘right to respond’

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India was commonly anticipated to react to the April 22 attack on Kashmiri visitors, which it attributed to the UN-designated terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant group based in Pakistan. Singh claimed that the procedure, which New Delhi dubbed” Operation Sindoor,” was merely intended to “terror infrastructure,” and that it wasContinue Reading