India summoned the US chargé d'affaires for the second time this week to protest attacks by US forces on merchant vessels in West Asia that have killed three Indian seafarers.
The US Central Command has said it took action to disable three vessels this week because they were trying to violate the US blockade of Iranian ports.
A US combat aircraft fired two Hellfire missiles into Jalveer’s engine room to disable it, killing three Indian crew members, including 23-year-old Aditya Sharma.
The external affairs ministry had issued a statement on Wednesday to condemn the strike on Settebello, and public anger has grown over the attacks by the US.
Former foreign secretary Sibal called for pressure to be mounted on the US instead of any defence of “its action at the cost of Indian lives”.
