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Security personnel patrol a street the morning after the attack in Jammu and Kashmir on April 23.
Tourists who had come for a holiday at a beautiful place in Kashmir were targeted by gunmen.
During this incident, 26 people were killed by gunmen and many more were injured before the terrorists escaped into the forest area.
Gunmen killed at least 26 people and injured a dozen others in the disputed Himalayan region of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, a rare assault on tourists in an area fraught by decades of insurgency and opposition to India’s rule.
The devastating massacre targeted sightseers in a popular tourist destination in Pahalgam, in the mountainous Anantnag district, and is the region’s worst assault on civilians in years. Most of the 26 people killed are understood to be travelers.
Among the victims was a Nepali national, and another person of “Indian origin who works in the Middle East,” V K Birdi, inspector general of police in Kashmir, told SNPNEWS.IN
He added that the attack took place in a part of the Baisaran Valley – which is only accessible by foot or on horseback. The assault unfolded in a meadow, with mountainous ridges nearby, that stretched several miles without any car roads, he said.
Survivors described horror as the attack unfolded and a bloody scene wrought by the gunmen.
One eyewitness told the news agency Press Trust of India that unidentified gunmen opened fire on the tourists from close range.
“My husband was shot in the head while seven others were also injured in the attack,” one woman survivor said, according to PTI.
Another survivor, Asavari Jagdale, told PTI the gunmen came into the tent where her family was hiding. The attackers accused the family – hailing from India’s western Pune city – of supporting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, before shooting Jagdale’s male relatives, including her father, she said.
Local resident Abdul Waheed told SNPNEWS.IN jumped on his pony to help transport the injured back to areas where they could be driven to the hospital, and enlisted others in his local pony association to help. For those who were too injured, they used makeshift cots to carry them down the valley.
“I saw people crying, screaming, just lying in the aftermath of the attack. There were children, women, men, everyone,” he said. “It was a massive trauma. I did not sleep all night.”
Stop Terrorism
Reuters, A man who was injured in the attack receives treatment in a hospital in the mountainous Anantnag district on April 22.
As of Wednesday, authorities had carried out medical examinations on the victims, and flown the bodies of the deceased to their home states. Some funerals were held, including that of an Indian Navy Lieutenant who was visiting the destination with his wife.
On Wednesday evening, police in Kashmir announced a reward of 200,000 Indian rupees ($2,339) for “any information leading to the neutralization of the terrorists involved in this cowardly act.
”The picturesque Himalayan region, administered in part by both India and Pakistan though still disputed by both sides, is often rife with violence and has a heavy security presence – but attacks on tourists are rare.
“It is an implicit sort of contract between the local population and the militant groups that the tourist trade will not be undermined because almost everyone in Kashmir,
Especially in the Valley, is directly or indirectly dependent on the tourism industry,” said counter-terrorism expert By Tuesday night, outraged residents had gathered in the region to protest. Videos of the protest show a crowd chanting slogans, holding candles and signs that read:
“Stop terrorism.” Other signs called for the resignation of Indian home affairs minister, Amit Shah. Tourists were also scrambling to leave the region, with airlines putting on extra flights.
“Those behind this heinous act will be brought to justice… they will not be spared! Their evil agenda will never succeed,” Indian leader Modi wrote on X.
Following the attack, Modi cut short his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia after meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
India’s defense minister Rajnath Singh called the attack “religiously targeted” and “cowardly” on Wednesday, adding that the Indian government will take “appropriate action.
”The Indian Army corps responsible for military operations in the area of the attack said a search operation was underway to bring “the attackers to justice.” Shah, the home minister, arrived in the region on Tuesday and chaired a high-level security meeting, his office said.
India has long accused Pakistan of harboring Islamist militant groups that target Kashmir, something Islamabad denies. Attacks by militants have in the past led to a sharp escalation of tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, both of whom have rival claims to the Himalayan region.
India conducted air strikes inside Pakistan in 2019 following an insurgent attack on Indian soldiers.A spokesperson from Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs extended condolences to the victims, adding:
“We are concerned at the loss of tourists’ lives in an attack in Anantnag district of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.”
The attack came a day after US Vice President JD Vance arrived in India for a visit with his family. On Tuesday, he shared condolences on X, writing: “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.”US President Donald Trump also condemned the attack, expressing US solidarity with India against terrorism and calling Modi to convey his condolences, according to Indian authorities.
Other leaders from Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Iran, France, Italy and the UAE also expressed condemnation.
India has announced measures targeting Pakistan,
A day after 26 people were killed by gunmen in an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir.They include the closure of the main border crossing linking the two countries, the suspension of a water-sharing treaty and the expulsion of diplomats.
India has also cancelled some visas held by Pakistanis and ordered holders to leave within two days, while demanding Pakistan renounces “support for cross-border terrorism” – something Islamabad denies.
Tuesday’s killing of tourists gathered at a Himalayan beauty spot in Pahalgam was one of the deadliest incidents in Indian-administered Kashmir in recent years.
There has been a long-running insurgency in the Muslim-majority region for several decades.The Indian government has responded furiously to the attack and has signalled it holds Pakistan indirectly responsible.
Indian security agencies believe a group called the Kashmir Resistance was behind the attack, though BBC News has not independently verified that.A manhunt for the gunmen responsible was continuing on Wednesday evening.
Pakistan’s government said its National Security Council – the country’s highest military and security body – would meet on Thursday.
In the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack, the Pakistani foreign ministry said it was “concerned at the loss of tourists’ lives” and expressed condolences.India has long accused successive governments in Islamabad of supporting armed groups in the region, which Pakistan strongly denies.
Under the measures announced by India on Wednesday, Pakistani military advisers based at the Delhi embassy were told to leave immediately, and more diplomatic expulsions are planned for next week, a statement said.
The Pahalgam attack risks reigniting long-running tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals.In a statement, the Indian government said “the perpetrators of the attack will be brought to justice and their sponsors held to account”.
It said India would be “unrelenting in the pursuit of those who have committed acts of terror, or conspired to make them possible”.
Earlier, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also signalled India’s response would go beyond targeting the perpetrators.
He said: “We will not only reach those who have perpetrated this incident but also those who, sitting behind the scenes, have conspired to commit such acts on the soil of India.”
The attack has been widely condemned by international leaders and has generated outrage and mourning in India.
Eyewitnesses have described chaotic and bloody scenes as holidaymakers including entire families fled for their lives.
Some witnesses said it appeared the gunmen targeted non-Muslims but others have described the shooting as random.
Terrorist Attack In Pahalgam, Jammu & Kashmir, Tourist Killed, 12 Injured
Most of the victims were Hindu men, though a local Muslim man was among the victims.
India’s government has not given an official account on whether people were targeted on the basis of religion.