At least 28 tourists have been killed by at least four gunmen who opened fire at a resort and mowed down people at close range in a horrifying terror attack.
Police have said that dozens of tourists have been killed in Indian-controlled Kashmir by the gunmen described as militants and there are said to be at least three dozen others injured, with many in serious condition.
Most of the tourists killed were Indian, the officers said. Bodies have been collected from Baisaran meadow, three miles from the disputed region’s resort town of Pahalgam.
Police described the incident as a terror attack and blamed militants fighting against Indian rule. “This attack is much larger than anything we’ve seen directed at civilians in recent years,” Omar Abdullah, the region’s top elected official, wrote on social media.
The attack appeared to be a major shift in the regional conflict in which tourists have largely been spared from violence. “We will come down heavily on the perpetrators with the harshest consequences,” India’s home minister Amit Shah wrote on social media.
He later arrived in Srinagar, the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir, and convened a meeting with senior security officials. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on an official visit in Saudi Arabia, has been briefed.
Follow the latest updates on the Kashmir shooting here:
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called the attack on tourists a “heinous act” and said the attackers “will be brought to justice”.
Modi, who is on an official visit to Saudi Arabia, spoke after slaughter of people at a tourist resort in the Kashmir region of India.
“I strongly condemn the terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. Condolences to those who have lost their loved ones,” he wrote on X.
“I pray that the injured recover at the earliest. All possible assistance is being provided to those affected. Those behind this heinous act will be brought to justice…they will not be spared! Their evil agenda will never succeed. Our resolve to fight terrorism is unshakable and it will get even stronger.”
A witness, who saw the bloodbath unfold as gunmen suddenly appeared at a tourist spot in Kashmir, sys they came out of the forest.
“I cannot say how many, but the militants came out of the forest near an open small meadow and started firing,” said the man, who provides ponies for tourists. “It was like a storm.”
He added that the gunmen “very clearly spared women and kept shooting at men”
Most of the tourists killed were Indian, officials have said, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with departmental policy. Bodies have been collected from the Baisaran meadow, some three miles from the disputed region’s resort town of Pahalgam.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi decried the “heinous act”, pledging the attackers “will be brought to justice”.
Pakistan has quickly responded to the horrific attack on tourists in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir and said it had no involvement in it.
Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Pahalgam attack: “We have absolutely nothing to do with it. We don’t support terrorism anywhere in any form.”
Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety.
Kashmir has seen a spate of targeted killings of Hindus, including immigrant workers from Indian states, after New Delhi ended the region’s semi-autonomy in 2019 and drastically curbed dissent, civil liberties and media freedoms.
Tensions have been simmering as India has intensified its counter-insurgency operations. But Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a key resistance politician and Kashmir’s top religious cleric, condemned what he described as a “cowardly attack on tourists”, writing on social media that “such violence is unacceptable and against the ethos of Kashmir which welcomes visitors with love and warmth”.
Vice President JD Vance’s trip to India has been rocked by the surprise attack by militants who have targeted a tourist resort.
Vance said in a post: ‘Usha and I extend our condolences to the victims of the devastating terrorist attack in Pahalgam, India.
‘Over the past few days, we have been overcome with the beauty of this country and its people. Our thoughts and prayers are with them as they mourn this horrific attack.’
Vance is in the country to help build closer ties with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as talks over a trade deal progress.
He had visited the northwestern city of Jaipur tolday following his meeting with Modi as part of a four day trip to the country.
Kashmir has seen a spate of targeted killings of Hindus, including immigrant workers from Indian states, after New Delhi ended the region’s semi-autonomy in 2019 and drastically curbed dissent, civil liberties and media freedoms.
Tensions have been simmering as India has intensified its counter-insurgency operations.
The region, known for rolling Himalayan foothills, decorated houseboats and pristine meadows, has become a major domestic tourist destination, with millions of visitors enjoying a strange peace kept by security checkpoints, armoured vehicles and patrolling soldiers.
Although violence has ebbed in recent times in the Kashmir Valley, the heart of anti-India rebellion, fighting between government forces and rebels has largely shifted to remote areas of Jammu region, including Rajouri, Poonch and Kathua, where Indian troops have faced deadly attacks.
Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.
India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Islamabad denies the charge, and many Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.
Donald Trump said that the horrific attack was “deeply disturbing” and that the United States would stand alongside India in the fight against terrorism.
He wrote on Truth Social: “Deeply disturbing news out of Kashmir. The United States stands strong with India against Terrorism. We pray for the souls of those lost, and for the recovery of the injured.
“Prime Minister Modi, and the incredible people of India, have our full support and deepest sympathies.”
The attack coincided with the visit to India of US vice president JD Vance, who is on a largely personal four-day stop.
“Over the past few days, we have been overcome with the beauty of this country and its people. Our thoughts and prayers are with them as they mourn this horrific attack,” he wrote on social media.
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