N Korea bombs S. Korea's Yeonpyeong border island - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

North Korea fired dozens of artillery shells onto a South Korean border island, killing a South Korean soldier and injuring 13 others on Tuesday. The shells also burnt down over 60 houses, The Telegraph reports. Civilians have fled the area, even as the South Korean Government has placed the country on the highest state of alert. The attack marks a serious further escalation of tensions on the Korean Peninsular. The Yeonpyeong Island on the Yellow Sea is located 50 miles off South Korea's northwest coast, and is close to a disputed sea border. Some reports suggested that around 200 shells might have been fired in the attack that began at 2.34 p.m. local time (7.34 a.m. GMT). F-16 fighter jets were scrambled and South Korean land-based forces returned fire on the North as civilians were evacuated to emergency bunkers, according to witnesses quoted by the Seoul-based cable news television channel YTN.

N Korea bombs S.Korea's Yeonpyeong border island