Kashmir ‘terror attack’: What happened and how have India and Pakistan reacted?

Published

3 weeks ago

April 26, 2025

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Tensions between India and Pakistan have ramped up following a militant gun attack in the disputed area of Kashmir.

At least 26 people, most of whom were Indian tourists, were shot dead by gunmen at a beauty spot near the resort town of Pahalgam in the Indian-controlled part of the region on 22 April.

India described the massacre as a “terror attack” and said it had “cross border” links, blaming Pakistan for backing it.

Pakistan denied any connection to the atrocity, which was claimed by a previously unknown militant group called the Kashmir Resistance.

It was one of the worst attacks in recent times in Kashmir, which is split between the two countries, and, as Pakistan’s defence minister told Sky’s The World With Yalda Hakim, has the potential to lead to a full-scale conflict involving the nuclear-armed neighbours.

Here is everything you need to know.

What happened during the attack?

At least four gunmen fired at dozens of tourists who were enjoying their holidays in Baisaran meadow, which is three miles (5km) from Pahalgam, and known as ‘mini Switzerland’.

At least 26 people were killed, and three dozen others were injured, according to police officers.

Sky News’ India correspondent Neville Lazarus said on 23 April that security forces had been called to the area and an anti-terror operation was ongoing.

It is believed police and soldiers were continuing to search for the attackers.

Funerals for several of those killed have been held in some Indian cities, and people took part in candle-lit vigils at several places, including in Srinagar, the biggest city in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, in the disputed region.

Locals shut down markets, businesses and schools the day after the attack in protest, amid worries that it would hurt the region’s tourism economy.

What is the Kashmir Resistance?

The Kashmir Resistance, also known as The Resistance Front, has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The group, which emerged in 2019 is considered a splinter group of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, a Delhi-based think-tank.

LeT is listed as a terrorist organisation by the US. The same group was accused of killing 166 people during a four-day attack on Mumbai in 2008.

At the time, the group was alleged to have close ties to Pakistan’s spy agency, the Inter-Service Intelligence – an accusation Islamabad denied.

Ajai Sahni, head of the South Asia Terrorism Portal, told Reuters that groups like these have been created by Pakistan particularly as a way to create a “pattern of denial that they were involved in terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir”.

Pakistan has always denied that it supports and funds militants in Kashmir, saying it offers only moral and diplomatic support.

How have India and Pakistan reacted?

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who cut short his visit to Saudi Arabia and returned to India, “strongly” condemned the attack.

Addressing a rally in the east Indian state of Bihar on 24 April, he said his government will “identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backers”.

“We will pursue them to the ends of the earth,” he said, adding: “Terrorism will not go unpunished. Every effort will be made to ensure that justice is done.”

India also announced a number of punitive measures against Pakistan, including revoking visas issued to Pakistan nationals, expelling military advisers, closing a border crossing and suspending a crucial water-sharing treaty known as the Indus Water Treaty.

During a phone call with Mr Modi, the UK’s prime minister Sir Keir Starmer “expressed his deep condolences” to all those affected and agreed to stay in touch with the Indian leader.

India has accused Pakistan of harbouring and arming militant organisations whose members infiltrate the almost 500-mile border in Kashmir and attack the state.

Speaking to Sky News’ Yalda Hakim, Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Asif denied his country was behind the Pahalgam attack.

In a meeting of the country’s national security committee, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif passed reciprocal measures on India including cancelling visas, closing its airspace for all Indian-owned or Indian-operated airlines and suspending all trade with India, including to and from any third country.

He also warned that the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty would be considered an act of war.

The treaty, which was brokered by the World Bank in 1960, is essential for supporting agriculture and hydropower for Pakistan’s 240 million people. Suspending it could lead to water shortages at a time when parts of the country are already struggling with drought and declining rainfall.

‘Brief exchange of fire’

Days after the attack, three Indian army officials said that its army had a brief exchange of fire with Pakistani soldiers along the highly militarised border of Kashmir.

The officials claimed Pakistan soldiers used small arms to fire at Indian positions in Kashmir late on 24 April, to which Indian soldiers retaliated. No casualties were reported.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry declined to confirm or deny the report.

Ministry spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan told a news conference: “I will wait for a formal confirmation from the military before I make any comment.”

The exchange of fire followed Pakistan’s defence minister Mr Asif warning that the attack could lead to an “all-out war” between his country and India and that the world should be “worried”.

Mr Asif suggested India had “staged” the shooting in a “false flag” operation. He warned his military was “prepared for any eventuality” amid escalating tensions and diplomatic measures from both sides.

“We will measure our response to whatever is initiated by India. It would be a measured response,” he said.

“If there is an all-out attack or something like that, then obviously there will be an all-out war… If things get wrong, there could be a tragic outcome of this confrontation.”

The United Nations has urged both sides “to exercise maximum restraint and to ensure that the situation and the developments we’ve seen do not deteriorate any further”.

What caused the two country’s tensions?

India and Pakistan have fought several wars and conflicts since their independence from Britain in 1947, primarily due to territorial disputes over Kashmir.

Both countries claim the Himalayan region as their own, but in reality control different sections of the territory.

Armed insurgents in Kashmir have resisted New Delhi for decades, with many Muslim people in the region supporting the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory either under Pakistan’s rule or as an independent country.

The dispute over the land has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people over the past three decades, although outbreaks of sporadic violence did seem to have eased in recent years.

In 2019, a suicide bomber in a vehicle killed 40 paramilitary soldiers in a military convoy, which brought the two countries close to war.

Before that, there was the Mumbai terror attack in 2008 and in 1999, the 10-week-long Kargil War.

The conflict began after Pakistan’s military covertly occupied Indian posts across the line of control (LoC) in the Kargil region.

At least 1,000 combatants were killed on both sides. The fighting stopped after Pakistan asked then US president Bill Clinton to help de-escalate the conflict.

World

Nine killed in Russian attack on civilian bus, Ukraine’s military says

Published

11 hours ago

May 17, 2025

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Nine killed in Russian attack on civilian bus, Ukraine's military says

A Russian attack on a civilian bus in Ukraine’s northeast Sumy region has killed nine people and injured four others, the Ukrainian military has said.

“Medics and rescuers have been urgently sent to the scene,” Ihor Tkachenko, head of Sumy’s military administration, said on Telegram.

Russia’s TASS state news agency said the defence ministry had claimed Russian forces struck a Ukrainian military equipment staging area in the Sumy region with drones.

The deaths prompted a strong response from Ukraine’s National Police on the Telegram messaging app: “This is not just another shelling – it is a cynical war crime”.

Ukraine’s police posted photos of a dark blue passenger van nearly destroyed, with the roof torn off and the windows blown out.

The attack comes hours after Russia and Ukraine held their first direct peace talks in three years.

The meeting of Russian and Ukrainian officials in Turkey on Friday failed to broker a temporary ceasefire.

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World

Up to a million Palestinians could be ‘permanently relocated’ to war-torn Libya under US plans

Published

16 hours ago

May 17, 2025

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Up to a million Palestinians could be 'permanently relocated' to war-torn Libya under US plans

Up to a million Palestinians could be permanently relocated from devastated Gaza to war-torn Libya under plans being worked on by Donald Trump’s administration, NBC News reports.

The idea has been discussed with Libya’s leadership, sources told Sky’s US partner network, and would potentially see billions of dollars in frozen Libyan funds released.

The North African country remains divided in two – nearly 14 years after the overthrow of dictator Muammar Gaddafi sparked a civil war – with two rival governments fighting for control.

It comes as Israel continues a campaign of airstrikes on Gaza, with 93 people killed and hundreds injured on Friday, according to local medics.

No final agreement on any Libya plans have been reached, sources told NBC News, and US government agencies did not respond to requests for comment from the news outlet.

Previous suggestions to resettle Palestinians from Gaza – voluntarily or otherwise – have provoked international outcry, particularly from Arab states who likely will play a role in rebuilding the enclave after any permanent ceasefire deal.

And Libya is far from a safe nation, according to the US State Department’s own travel advice, which says Americans should not travel to the country “due to crime, terrorism, unexploded landmines, civil unrest, kidnapping, and armed conflict”.

President Trump, speaking on the final day of his Middle East trip, said he was looking to resolve a range of global crises, including Gaza.

“We’re looking at Gaza,” he said. “And we’ve got to get that taken care of. A lot of people are starving. A lot of people are – there’s a lot of bad things going on.”

There had been hopes that his tour of the region could increase the chances of a ceasefire deal or prompt Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza that is preventing humanitarian aid from getting in.

But instead Israel has continued to launch airstrikes on the territory, killing more than 250 people in the last two days, according to Hamas-run health authorities.

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The Israeli military, which had dropped leaflets on the northern town of Beit Lahia ordering residents to leave, said their airforce had struck more than 150 military targets across Gaza in recent days.

This week, Israel said it had bombed the European Hospital because it was home to an underground Hamas base, but Sky News analysis has cast doubt on its evidence.

Israeli officials said the latest strikes were a prelude to a larger military campaign in Gaza aimed at pressuring Hamas to release hostages.

Ahmed Abu Riziq, founder of the Gaza Great Minds Foundation, which seeks to give children access to education in Gaza, said “the hell doors opened” in the last few days.

Speaking to Sky News from Gaza City, he said: “Myself with my family, we had to flee today from some certain areas in northern Gaza City… people are running in the streets. They don’t know where to go or where to sleep at night. So it’s really catastrophic.”

“No food is entering Gaza,” he added, saying that people are dying from hunger.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this month that Israel plans to seize all of Gaza and hold it indefinitely.

Tom Fletcher, head of the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs, warned the Security Council this week it must “act now” to “prevent genocide” – a claim Israel vehemently denies.

World

First Russia-Ukraine talks since 2022 agree POW swap – but last less than two hours

Published

16 hours ago

May 17, 2025

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First Russia-Ukraine talks since 2022 agree POW swap - but last less than two hours

Russia and Ukraine failed to agree to a ceasefire in their first direct talks since 2022 – as European leaders called Moscow’s approach “unacceptable” after the discussions lasted less than two hours and Vladimir Putin stayed away.

The meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, was set up at short notice on President Putin‘s behest, but he declined a challenge from Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet him in person and instead sent relatively junior representatives.

A source in the Ukrainian team told Sky News that Russia had threatened “eternal war” during the talks.

They said the Russians were not ready to talk about technical details of a ceasefire and were waiting for superiors to approve them.

Latest updates on Istanbul talks

Both countries said they had agreed to trade 1,000 prisoners of war each in what would be the biggest such exchange yet of the conflict.

But Kyiv wants the West to impose tighter sanctions unless Moscow accepts a proposal from Donald Trump for a 30-day ceasefire.

President Zelenskyy said after the meeting that he had spoken to Mr Trump by phone – alongside Sir Keir Starmer and the leaders of France, Germany and Poland – who all met in Albania on Friday.

In a post on X, he said Ukraine was “ready to take the fastest possible steps to bring real peace” and that “tough sanctions must follow” if Russia continues to resist a month-long truce.

Frustration over Russia‘s perceived stalling in holding serious negotiations was also clear from the European leaders gathered in Tirana.

“The Russian position is clearly unacceptable, and not for the first time,” said Sir Keir.

“So as a result of that meeting with President Zelenskyy and that call with President Trump we are now closely aligning our responses and will continue to do so.”

The UK prime minister said the no-show by Russia’s leader was “more evidence that Putin is not serious about peace” and has “been dragging his heels”.

NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte, who was also in Albania, said President Putin had made a “big mistake” by sending low-level delegates to Istanbul.

A list of representatives ahead of the meeting listed presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, deputy foreign minister Galuzin Mikhail Yuryevich and deputy defence chief Alexander Fomin.

Ukraine’s delegation was led by defence minister Rustem Umerov.

President Zelenskyy had called the Russian team “a theatre prop” ahead of the summit in the Dolmabahce Palace.

However, Turkey’s foreign minister heralded it as “an important day for world peace” and said Russia and Ukraine had agreed to swap 1,000 POWs each as a “confidence-building measure”.

Hakan Fidan shared a picture of the delegations and said they had “agreed to share with the other side in writing the conditions that would make it possible to reach a ceasefire”.

Russia’s Vladimir Medinsky said his team had “taken note” of the Ukrainian request for direct talks between Mr Putin and Mr Zelenskyy.

“We have agreed that each side will present its vision of a possible future ceasefire and spell it out in detail,” said Mr Medinsky.

Hopes ahead of the meeting were low after Mr Trump and his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, played down the prospect of meaningful progress.

The US president told reporters on Air Force One on Thursday “nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together”, while Mr Rubio said a “breakthrough” was unlikely until the US and Russian presidents meet.

No date for such a meeting has been proposed, but Mr Trump has said it will happen “as soon as we can set it up”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that top-level talks were “certainly needed” but arranging it would take time.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov was a notable absentee, despite attending Ukraine-focused talks with the US in Saudi Arabia in February.

Russia has so far failed to agree to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire – proposed by European leaders who have threatened Moscow with “massive” sanctions if it doesn’t sign up. The US also supports the plan.

The Kremlin has ambitions to keep swathes of Ukrainian land as part of any long-term truce, an idea that Kyiv firmly rejects.

Russia also wants an end to Ukraine’s NATO ambitions and a promise it will stay neutral.