SRINAGAR: Gunmen ambushed a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims in Indian-administered Kashmir, which then tumbled into a ravine killing at least nine people, police said Sunday.
The attack came around an hour before Hindu-nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi was sworn in for a third term on Sunday evening in the capital New Delhi.
“Initial reports suggest that militants were waiting there in an ambush and they fired on the bus,” police officer Mohita Sharma told AFP.
“The driver lost control and fell into the deep gorge. Nine people died and 23 were injured.”
The crash happened near Reasi town, in the south of the disputed territory, as the bus was returning from a popular Hindu shrine in the area.
Opposition Congress party president Mallikarjun Kharge condemned the “gruesome terror attack” in a post on social media platform X.
Modi’s “chest-thumping propaganda of bringing peace and normalcy... rings hollow,” he said.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947, and both claim the high-altitude territory in full.
Rebel groups have waged an insurgency since 1989, demanding independence or a merger with Pakistan.
The conflict has left tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers, and rebels dead.
Violence and anti-India protests have drastically fallen since 2019, when Modi’s government canceled the region’s limited autonomy.
Five rebels and an Indian air force corporal were killed in clashes since election campaigning began in the territory in April until voting ended this month Two suspected rebels were also killed in a firefight with soldiers on June 3.
But the vote saw a 58.6 percent turnout, according to the election commission, a 30-percentage-point jump from the last vote in 2019 and the highest in 35 years.
No separatist group called for a boycott of the election — a first since the armed revolt against Indian rule erupted in the territory in 1989.
India regularly accuses Pakistan of supporting and arming the rebels, a charge Islamabad denies.
Gunmen attack Hindu pilgrim bus in India’s Kashmir, nine killed: police
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Gunmen attack Hindu pilgrim bus in India’s Kashmir, nine killed: police
- The attack came around an hour before Hindu-nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi was sworn in
Junta leader Gen. Mamdi Doumbouya is declared winner of Guinea’s election, provisional results show
- Mamady Doumbouya took power in 2021 coup
CONAKRY, Guinea: Guinea coup leader Mamady Doumbouya has been elected president, according to provisional results announced on Tuesday, completing the return to civilian rule in the bauxite- and iron ore-rich West African nation.
The former special forces commander, thought to be in his early 40s, seized power in 2021, toppling then-President Alpha Conde, who had been in office since 2010. It was one in a series of nine coups that have reshaped politics in West and Central Africa since 2020.
The provisional results announced on Tuesday showed Doumbouya winning 86.72 percent of the December 28 vote, an absolute majority that allows him to avoid a runoff.
The Supreme Court has eight days to validate the results in the event of any challenge.
Doumbouya’s victory, which gives him a seven-year mandate, was widely expected. Conde and Cellou Dalein Diallo, Guinea’s longtime opposition leader, are in exile, which left Doumbouya to face a fragmented field of eight challengers.
Doumbouya reversed pledge not to run
The original post-coup charter in Guinea barred junta members from running in elections, but a constitution dropping those restrictions was passed in a September referendum.
Djenabou Toure, the country’s top election official who announced the results on Tuesday night, said turnout was 80,95 percent. However voter participation appeared tepid in the capital Conakry, and opposition politicians rejected a similarly high turnout figure for the September referendum.
Guinea holds the world’s largest bauxite reserves and the richest untapped iron ore deposit at Simandou, officially launched last month after years of delay.
Doumbouya has claimed credit for pushing the project forward and ensuring Guinea benefits from its output.
His government this year also revoked the license of Emirates Global Aluminium’s subsidiary Guinea Alumina Corporation following a refinery dispute, transferring the unit’s assets to a state-owned firm.
The turn toward resource nationalism — echoed in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger — has boosted his popularity, as has his relative youth in a country where the median age is about 19.
Political space restricted, UN says
Political debate has been muted under Doumbouya. Civil society groups accuse his government of banning protests, curbing press freedom and restricting opposition activity.
The campaign period was “severely restricted, marked by intimidation of opposition actors, apparently politically motivated enforced disappearances, and constraints on media freedom,” UN rights chief Volker Turk said last week.
On Monday, opposition candidate Faya Lansana Millimono told a press conference the election was marred by “systematic fraudulent practices” and that observers were prevented from monitoring the voting and counting processes.
The government did not respond to a request for comment.
