NEW DELHI, May 10 – Loud blasts were heard in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Saturday evening, just three hours after India and Pakistan agreed to observe a ceasefire and end military actions, officials said.
The massive blasts were audible in Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.
According to the region’s Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, explosions were heard across Srinagar. “This is no ceasefire. The air defense units in the middle of Srinagar just opened up.”
It was reported that in Akhnoor, Rajouri, and R S Pura sections, the two sides exchanged heavy shelling and artillery. The exchange of fire was also reported along the Line of Control (LoC) in Palanwalla section of Jammu.
Immediately after the blasts, a blackout was enforced.
Earlier in the day, Pakistan and India announced that they had agreed on a ceasefire.
The announcement came following four days of military strikes on each other.
On Wednesday, India launched airstrikes on Pakistani targets to avenge last month’s killing of 26 people by gunmen in Pahalgam town, about 89 km east of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.
India blamed Pakistan for being behind the incident, a charge denied by Pakistan.
The situation along the LoC dividing Kashmir had been tense as troops of India and Pakistan deployed on both sides of the ceasefire line were engaged in an exchange of fire and artillery.
May 10 – Explosions were heard across the city of Srinagar in Indian Kashmir on Saturday evening, hours after India and Pakistan agreed on a ceasefire, Omar Abdullah, chief minister of the federal territory, said in a post on X.
“What the hell just happened to the ceasefire? Explosions heard across Srinagar,” Abdullah posted.
ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI, May 10 – Pakistan and India announced on Saturday that they agreed on a ceasefire.
The announcement came following four days of military strikes on each other.
Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Saturday that Pakistan and India have agreed on a ceasefire with immediate effect.
“Pakistan has always strived for peace and security in the region, without compromising on its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Dar said.
He said that after the recent escalation and military activities on both sides, several countries, including the U.S., Turkey, and Saudi Arabia, were in contact with Pakistan.
Diplomatic efforts were underway throughout the day, following which a ceasefire agreement was reached, he added.
Meanwhile, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said on Saturday that the two countries agreed to observe a ceasefire and end military actions on their borders and Line of Control (LoC).
“Pakistan (Director General of Military Operations, or DGMO) called the DGMO of India at 15:35 local time earlier this afternoon. It was agreed between them that both sides would stop all firing and military action on land, in the air and sea with effect from 17:00 local time today. Instructions have been given on both sides to give effect to this understanding,” Misri said at a press briefing in New Delhi.
According to Misri, the DGMOs will talk again on May 12 at 12:00 local time.
On Wednesday, India launched airstrikes on Pakistani targets to avenge last month’s killing of 26 people by gunmen in Pahalgam town, about 89 km east of Srinagar, the summer capital of the Indian-controlled Kashmir.
The situation along the LoC dividing Kashmir had been tense as troops of India and Pakistan deployed on both sides of the ceasefire line were engaged in an exchange of fire and artillery.
KHARTOUM, May 10 – At least 19 inmates were killed and more than 45 others injured in a drone strike targeting a central prison in El Obeid in western Sudan’s North Kordofan State on Saturday, according to a medical source and eyewitnesses.
A medical source at El-Obeid Hospital, who requested anonymity, told Xinhua that the 19 dead bodies and the 45 injured have arrived at the hospital, and that “the number of casualties is expected to rise.”
An eyewitness near the central prison building told Xinhua that “three drones launched around five missiles at the prison, with about three of them directly striking the building and the inmates’ living quarters.”
Another eyewitness said, “Rescue operations inside the prison are still ongoing, and the number of the dead and injured is higher than what has been announced.”
So far, no official statement has been issued regarding the incident.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) intensified its drone attacks recently on military sites and key facilities in areas controlled by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), including El Obeid.
Local media reported that the RSF continued its drone attacks for the seventh consecutive day on Port Sudan on Saturday, which has become the de facto administrative center of the country since May 2023. The RSF has not commented on the report.
Sudan has been embroiled in a devastating conflict between the SAF and the RSF since mid-April 2023, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives, with the exact toll unable to be verified. The International Organization for Migration estimates that over 15 million people have been displaced, both within Sudan and abroad.
ISLAMABAD, May 10 – At least 13 civilians were killed in Pakistani Kashmir in 12 hours until noon on Saturday, the region’s disaster authority said, as India and Pakistan traded fire after Islamabad’s military action against India in the early hours of the day.
More than 50 people were also injured in the region, the authority said.
Tensions between India and Pakistan, both of who rule Kashmir in part, have escalated since India struck “terrorist infrastructure” in Pakistan on Wednesday.
SRINAGAR, India, May 10 – Two loud blasts were heard in Indian’s Kashmir’s summer capital of Srinagar on Saturday, near the city airport and the local headquarters of the army, according to an official, a Reuters witness, and local residents.
Two blasts were also heard in Kashmir’s Baramulla town, an official and residents told Reuters, as fighting continued between nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan.
ISLAMABAD, May 10 – Pakistan’s airspace will remain closed for all types of flights until 12:00 p.m. (0700 GMT) on May 11, the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority announced on Saturday.
The airspace was initially closed at around 3:15 a.m. on Saturday (GMT 2215 Friday) and was scheduled to reopen by Saturday noon time.
However, the authority extended the closure in a fresh statement issued just before the deadline.
The decision was taken in view of the current security situation, though no specific details were provided in the official announcement.
The suspension affects both domestic and international flights, with airlines advised to make necessary schedule adjustments.
Authorities said the situation is being closely monitored and further updates will be issued as needed.
The closure comes amid rising regional tensions after Pakistan launched a military operation in response to Indian missile strikes on its air force bases.
ISLAMABAD, May 10 – Pakistan’s airspace will remain closed for all types of flights until 12:00 p.m. (0700 GMT) on May 11, the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority announced on Saturday.
The airspace was initially closed at around 3:15 a.m. on Saturday (GMT 2215 Friday) and was scheduled to reopen by Saturday noon time.
However, the authority extended the closure in a fresh statement issued just before the deadline.
The decision was taken in view of the current security situation, though no specific details were provided in the official announcement.
The suspension affects both domestic and international flights, with airlines advised to make necessary schedule adjustments.
Authorities said the situation is being closely monitored and further updates will be issued as needed.
The closure comes amid rising regional tensions after Pakistan launched a military operation in response to Indian missile strikes on its air force bases.
ISLAMABAD, May 10 – Pakistan successfully targeted and destroyed an Indian S-400 air defense system in Adampur, located in Jalandhar district of India’s Punjab state, in an airstrike on Saturday, the Pakistani military said in a statement.
The strike was carried out using hypersonic missiles deployed from the JF-17 platform, with precision-guided munitions neutralizing the advanced air defense asset, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military wing of the Pakistani army, said in the statement.
The S-400 system, estimated to be worth around 1.5 billion U.S. dollars, was considered one of India’s most sophisticated surface-to-air missile systems, the statement added.
Military analysts told Xinhua that the successful targeting of the S-400 could have significant implications for India’s aerial defense posture in the region.
The strike is a part of Pakistan’s major military operation “Bunyanun Marsoos,” meaning concrete structure, launched in response to sustained Indian provocations, and aimed at targeting multiple high-value military installations across India, according to the ISPR.
A federal judge in Vermont on Friday released a Turkish Tufts University student detained in a Louisiana immigration center more than six weeks after she was arrested while walking along a street in a Boston suburb, allowing her to return to her studies.
U.S. District Judge William Sessions in Burlington released Rumeysa Ozturk pending a final decision on her claim that she’s been illegally detained following an op-ed she co-wrote last year that criticized the school’s response to Israel’s war in Gaza.
Her immigration proceedings in Louisiana also will continue separately.
MEXICO CITY – Mexico has sued tech giant Google over its labelling of the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, a change made by U.S. President Donald Trump via executive order, Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday.
Sheinbaum did not provide details of the lawsuit during her daily press briefing, but said that Google had been sued.
Mexico’s Foreign Relations ministry had previously sent letters to Google asking it to not label Mexican territorial waters as the Gulf of America.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The body of water has shared borders between the United States and Mexico. Trump’s order only carries authority within the U.S. Mexico, as well as other countries and international bodies, do not have to recognize the name change.
Mexico argues that Gulf of America should only apply to the part of the gulf over the United States continental shelf.
A residential neighbourhood is seen during a blackout following fresh blasts in the city of Jammu, May 9, 2025. REUTERS
JAMMU, India/ISLAMABAD, May 9 – Blasts rang out across Indian Kashmir and the Sikh holy city of Amritsar in neighbouring Punjab state late on Friday, with the Indian military saying they were shooting down drones in the worst fighting with Pakistan in nearly three decades.
The explosions in Amritsar – the first heard in the three-day-old conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours – could mark a further expansion in the hostilities that have alarmed world powers.
Projectiles and flashes were seen in the night sky above the Indian Kashmir city of Jammu that was plunged into a blackout in the second night of blasts in the region’s winter capital, officials and a Reuters journalist said.
“Drones have been sighted … They are being engaged,” said an Indian military official who asked not to be named.
Ten blasts were heard near the airport in the Indian Kashmir city of Srinagar and there were explosions in a dozen other locations in the contested region, other security officials added.
There was no immediate comment from Pakistan which dismissed Indian accusations that it had launched attacks on the same area on Thursday night.
The old foes have been clashing since India struck several areas that it described as “terrorist infrastructure” in Pakistan on Wednesday in retaliation for a deadly attack on Hindu tourists in Indian Kashmir last month.
Pakistan dismissed Indian accusations that it was involved. Both countries have exchanged cross-border fire and shelling and sent drones and missiles into each other’s airspace.
Around 48 people have been killed since Wednesday, according to casualty estimates on both sides of the border that have not been independently verified.
Tourists and villagers fled border zones, residents rushed to stockpile food and people were told to stay indoors in cities in Kashmir and beyond. India’s cricket board on Friday suspended the IPL – the sport’s richest tournament – and the Pakistan Super League postponed its remaining eight matches.
The relationship between India and Pakistan has been fraught with tension since they gained independence from colonial Britain in 1947. The countries have fought three wars, two of them over Kashmir, and clashed many times.
CLASHING ACCUSATIONS
India’s airforce earlier said Pakistan used Turkish drones to attack 36 locations on India’s west and northwest, in Kashmir and further afield in states bordering Pakistan all the way to the edge of the Arabian Sea on Thursday night into Friday morning.
India responded with drones on targets in Pakistan and destroyed one air defence system, Indian Air Force officer Vyomika Singh told a media briefing.
Pakistan Information Minister Attaullah Tarar had dismissed earlier Indian accusations of Pakistani attacks as “baseless and misleading” and said Pakistan had not carried out any “offensive actions”.
In Pakistani Kashmir, officials said heavy shelling from across the border killed five civilians, including an infant, and wounded 29 others in the early hours of Friday.
The fighting is the deadliest since a limited conflict between the two countries in Kashmir’s Kargil region in 1999.
Sirens had blared for more than two hours earlier on Friday in in Amritsar, which houses the Golden Temple revered by Sikhs.
Tourists fled the city by road as the airport was closed.
“We really wanted to stay but the loud sounds, sirens, and blackouts are giving us sleepless nights. Our families back home are worried for us so we have booked a cab and are leaving,” said a British national who did not want to be named.
Schools and coaching centres were closed in the Bikaner region of India’s desert state of Rajasthan, and residents near the Pakistan border said they were asked to move further away and consider moving in with relatives or using accommodation arranged by the government.
Further south in Bhuj in Gujarat, authorities said tourist buses had been kept on standby in case they needed to evacuate people near the Pakistan border.
India’s Directorate General of Shipping directed all ports, terminals and shipyards to increase security, amid “growing concerns regarding potential threats”.
People shop for essential goods at a supermarket in Amritsar, India, May 9, 2025. REUTERS
LAHORE/MUZAFARRABAD, Pakistan/AMRITSAR, India, May 9 – Residents across Pakistan and India rushed to stockpile foods and other essential supplies, while families living near the border fled to safer areas, as armed clashes between the nuclear-armed nations escalated on Friday.
India and Pakistan accused each other of launching new military attacks, using drones and artillery for the third day, in the worst fighting between the two countries in nearly three decades.
The conflict erupted after India struck multiple locations in Pakistan on Wednesday that it said were “terrorist camps”, in retaliation for a deadly attack on Hindu tourists in Indian Kashmir last month.
In the Indian state of Punjab, Amanpreet Dhillon, 26, said many families in his village — just 13 km (8.08 miles) from the border with Pakistan — have already sent women and children to safer areas.
“I am also contemplating it… I’m afraid my village could be next,” he said.
In Indian-administered Kashmir’s Uri district, residents said many fled overnight after several houses were struck by shelling, some taking shelter behind rocks or in bunkers.
“We have never seen such intense shelling in our life. The majority of the people fled the town and other villages as soon as shelling started last night with some taking shelter in underground bunkers,” said Bashir Ahmad, 45, in the town of Baramulla in Uri. “It was a nightmare for us.”
In the Pakistani city of Lahore, which lies near the border, residents were shaken on Thursday by drones that Pakistan said were launched by India and were shot down in the city, setting off sirens and leading the U.S. consulate to tell its staff to shelter in place.
Schools were closed on Friday and residents and shopkeepers said Lahoris were stocking up on food, gas cylinders for cooking and medicine, prompting authorities to issue a notice warning businesses not to artificially increase prices.
“I have stocked grocery for a month: we got meat, flour, tea, oil lentils etc and also drew extra cash from bank,” said Aroosha Rameez, 34, a Lahore resident.
Muhammad Asif, 35, said his pharmacy had seen an influx of customers.
“People in Lahore have started stocking medicines as well, which may lead to shortages of paracetamol, anti-allergies, antibiotics, blood pressure and diabetes medicines,” he said.
Food delivery app FoodPanda, popular in Pakistan, said it had seen a surge in grocery orders nationwide.
Across the border, India’s Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution minister warned against panic buying of food grains.
“We currently have stocks many times higher than the normal requirement—whether it is rice, wheat, or pulses…There is absolutely no shortage,” he said.
Pankaj Seth, a resident of Amritsar in India’s Punjab state, said people felt they had no choice: “We do not know if the markets will open tomorrow or not…I have children and grandchildren at home so I have to stock up.”
Some residents of border regions were also requesting relatives to bring them supplies as prices rose.
“My aunt lives in Attari and has asked me to get some flour for her as supplies are getting expensive there,” said Navneet Kaur, a nurse in Amritsar, 30 kilometres (19 miles)away, who was travelling to the town with a sack of flour.
FLEEING AT NIGHT
Residents of Kashmir near the line of control that divides the region faced a more stark and immediate threat.
Residents said they were starting to leave their villages and spend the nights, when shelling and firing roars through the valleys, in bunkers.
The prime minister’s office in Pakistan-administered Kashmir said over 400 people had been evacuated by authorities in two areas near the line of control.
“Ever since the attack (Indian strike) in Muzaffarabad, we have been living in our bunker, which we carved into a nearby rocky mountain,” said Manzoor Ahmed, 43, a resident of Jura Bandi village in the Neelum Valley, where local police confirmed most people were spending the night in bunkers.
BUDAPEST, May 9 – Hungary has expelled two Ukrainian diplomats accused of conducting espionage under diplomatic cover, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto announced on Friday.
Szijjarto confirmed that the two expelled diplomats were stationed at the Ukrainian Embassy in Budapest.
The expulsion follows a recent move by Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) to detain two individuals allegedly linked to a Hungarian intelligence network operating in western Ukraine.
According to Ukrainian media reports, the network was reportedly collecting sensitive military data in the Zakarpattia region, which is home to an ethnic Hungarian population. Authorities described the incident as the first of its kind in Ukraine’s history.
“The agents gathered data on Zakarpattia’s military defenses, looked for vulnerabilities, and analyzed how locals might react if Hungarian troops entered the region,” the Kyiv Post reported.
Szijjarto described the expulsion as a response to what he called “ongoing smear campaigns” against Hungary by Ukrainian authorities. He emphasized that Hungary continues to support peace and has consistently refused to send military aid to Ukraine or become involved in the conflict with Russia.
THE HAGUE, May 9 – Eindhoven Airport in the southern Dutch province of North Brabant was temporarily closed on Friday morning after a false bomb threat involving a flight bound for the Turkish resort city of Antalya.
The incident began when a 51-year-old woman claimed, prior to departure, that there was a bomb in her luggage, according to airport authorities. However, a subsequent inspection by the bomb squad found no explosives.
The woman was arrested, taken off the plane, and detained. Her motive remains under investigation.
Due to the disruption, one flight was diverted to Weeze Airport in neighboring Germany, about 80 kilometers from Eindhoven, while several other flights were delayed.
SINGAPORE, May 9 – A fire broke out at a two-storey industrial building in eastern Singapore on Friday, according to the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).
The SCDF said it was alerted to the blaze in the Tampines area at around noon. By around 1:40 p.m. local time, firefighters were at the scene deploying five water jets to contain the fire, it said in a Facebook update.
Photos from the scene showed thick black smoke billowing from the building.
The fire prompted office workers and students at a nearby school to evacuate, local media reported.
COLOMBO, May 9 – Six military personnel succumbed to their injuries after a Sri Lankan Air Force helicopter crashed into the Maduru Oya Reservoir in the country’s North Central Province on Friday morning, said a spokesperson.
Air force spokesperson Eranda Geeganage said 12 people, including two pilots, were on board at the time of the crash, and six of them have succumbed to their injuries, after being sent to regional hospitals.
The other six are still in the hospital, Geeganage said.
Earlier, Geeganage said that all the 12 on board were safe and had been sent to hospitals for treatment.
The incident took place during a demonstration held as part of a passing-out ceremony for the Sri Lanka Air Force.
GAZA, May 9, 2025 – Four Palestinians, including three members of the same family, were killed early Friday morning in Israeli airstrikes targeting two residential areas in the central and western parts of the Gaza Strip.
Local sources reported that Israeli warplanes bombed a home belonging to the Hamdan family in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. The strike resulted in the murder of Rashad Abu Hayya, his wife Safa, and their infant son Amr.
In a separate attack, an Israeli drone targeted an apartment in a residential building in Gaza City’s Al-Rimal neighborhood, killing a resident, Jasser Shamieh, and injuring several others.
Meanwhile, Israeli military vehicles opened heavy fire toward the eastern areas of Gaza City.
A family waits for transportation as they leave following overnight shelling from Pakistan at Gingal village in Uri district, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, May 9, 2025. AP
SRINAGAR, India – Indian and Pakistani soldiers exchanged heavy volleys of shells and gunfire across their frontier in Kashmir overnight, killing at least five civilians amid a growing military standoff that erupted following an attack on tourists in the India-controlled portion of the disputed region.
In Pakistan, an unusually intense night of artillery exchanges left at least four civilians dead and wounded 12 others in areas near the Line of Control that divides Kashmir, local police official Adeel Ahmad said. People in border towns said the firing continued well into Friday morning.
“We’re used to hearing exchange of fire between Pakistan and India at the Line of Control, but last night was different,” said Mohammad Shakil, who lives near the frontier in Chakothi sector.
In India, military officials said Pakistani troops barraged their posts overnight with artillery, mortars and gunfire at multiple locations. They said Indian soldiers responded, triggering fierce exchanges until early dawn.
A woman was killed and two other civilians were injured in Uri sector, police said, taking the civilian death toll in India to 17 since Wednesday.
RIVALS EXCHANGE STRIKES AND ALLEGATIONS
Tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals have soared since an attack on a popular tourist site in India-controlled Kashmir left 26 civilians dead, mostly Hindu Indian tourists, on April 22. New Delhi has blamed Pakistan for backing the attack, an accusation Islamabad rejects.
On Wednesday, India conducted airstrikes on several sites in Pakistani territory it described as militant-related, kiling 31 civilians according to Pakistani officials. Pakistan said it shot down five Indian fighter jets.
On Thursday, both countries reported drone attacks that the other swiftly denied. These incidents could not be independently confirmed.
CRISIS DISRUPTS SCHOOLS, SPORTS AND TRAVEL
Panic also spread during an evening cricket match in northern Dharamsala city, where a crowd of more than 10,000 people had to be evacuated from the stadium and the game called off, according to an Associated Press photographer covering the event.
Meanwhile, several northern and western Indian states, including Punjab, Rajasthan, Indian-controlled Kashmir, shut schools and other educational institutions for two days.
Airlines in India have also suspended flight operations from two dozen airports across northern and western regions. India’s Civil Aviation Ministry late Thursday confirmed in a statement the temporary closure of 24 airports.
The impact of border flare up was also seen in the Indian stock markets. In early trade on Friday, the benchmark Sensex tanked 662 points to 79,649 while Nifty 50 declined 215 points to trade at 24,058.
VANCE SAYS A WAR WOULD BE ‘NONE OF OUR BUSINESS’
As fears of military concentration soar and worried world leaders call for de-escalation, the U.S. Vice President JD Vance has said that a potential war between India and Pakistan would be “none of our business.”
“What we can do is try to encourage these folks to de-escalate a little bit, but we’re not going to get involved in the middle of war that’s fundamentally none of our business and has nothing to do with America’s ability to control it,” Vance said in an interview with Fox News.
SANTIAGO, May 8 – A small ambulance plane carrying six people that lost contact on Wednesday en route from central to northern Chile has been found crashed with no survivors, local authorities confirmed on Thursday.
“We extend our condolences to the families, friends and all those mourning the loss of these six compatriots,” Gonzalo Duran, presidential delegate for the Metropolitan Region, told the press.
The Chilean Air Force (FACH) reported that the wreckage was located in the town of Curacavi, on the outskirts of Santiago.
FACH announced that it had deployed personnel and resources immediately after the plane was reported missing and had coordinated closely with other agencies involved in the search effort.
According to the General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics, the aircraft was traveling from Santiago to the northern city of Arica when it disappeared from radar on Wednesday afternoon.
The public prosecutor’s office, along with emergency response teams, is investigating the cause of the crash.
