SRINAGAR/MUZZAFARABAD: Five members of an Indian family were killed and two injured by shelling from Pakistani troops on Sunday along the Line of Control, the de facto border between India and Pakistan, according to army and police officials.
Both sides were engaging in heavy shelling despite a 15-year-old ceasefire between the nuclear-armed rivals in the area, the officials said.
Nine people were also wounded across the border in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir due to the shelling from India that began late Saturday night, Pakistani officials said on Sunday.
Tension has been running high since an attack on an Indian army camp in India-controlled Kashmir last month in which six soldiers were killed. India blamed Pakistan for the attack and said it would make its rival pay for the "misadventure."
The South Asian neighbors have fought two of their three wars since independence in 1947 over Muslim-majority Kashmir, which they both claim in full but rule in part.
Indian Defense spokesman Lt Col Devender Anand said on Sunday that Pakistani troops started the shelling around 7:45 in the morning.
"They are specifically targeting civilian areas," Anand said. "Army troops retaliated strongly and effectively to silence Pakistani guns."
Director General of Indian Police in Kashmir, S P Vaid said the five people were killed in the village of Devta Dhar when a shell hit the house of Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan.
Ramzan, 45, his wife Malka Bi, 45, and three sons - Muhammad Rehman, 19, Muhammad Rizwan, 18, and Muhammad Razaq, 8 all died, Vaid said.
Two of Ramzan's daughters - Nooren Akhtar, 14, and Marin Akhtar, 7, were critically injured in the incident and were airlifted to a hospital in Jammu, Vaid said.
Five Indians killed in cross-border shelling by Pakistani troops
Five Indians killed in cross-border shelling by Pakistani troops
Pakistan cuts key rate by 50 bps to 10.5% in surprise move after holding for four meetings
- An IMF staff report last week warned against premature easing, with analysts expecting SBP to hold the policy rate
- Inflation remains within the bank’s target band, but analysts expect price pressures to rise later in the fiscal year
KARACHI: Pakistan’s central bank cut its key interest rate by 50 basis points to 10.5 percent on Monday, the bank said on its website, breaking a hold on the rate for four meetings in a move that surprised analysts and came despite IMF warnings to avoid premature easing.
All 12 analysts in a Reuters poll had expected the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to hold the policy rate at 11 percent.
Monday’s reduction takes the total easing since rates peaked at 22 percent to 1,150 basis points, after the SBP delivered 1,100 bps of cuts between June 2024 and May 2025 and then held the rate steady for four meetings before Monday’s move.
Inflation edged down to 6.1 percent in November from 6.2 percent in October, within the SBP’s 5 percent–7 percent target band, with analysts expecting it to rise again later in FY26 as base effects fade and food and transport prices stay volatile.
An IMF staff report last week warned against premature easing, calling for policy to remain data-dependent to anchor expectations and rebuild external buffers, even as Pakistan received a $1.2 billion disbursement under its loan program.
