ISLAMABAD: Armed men opened fire on a group of tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir, killing at least 26 people, according to Indian police, in one of the deadliest attacks there in recent times.
Police said multiple tourists received gunshot wounds in the “terror attack” on Tuesday while they were visiting Baisaran meadow, about 5km (3 miles) from the disputed region’s resort town of Pahalgam.
“This attack is much larger than anything we’ve seen directed at civilians in recent years,” Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, the region’s top elected official, wrote on social media.
Indian police told the Associated Press news agency that at least 26 people were killed and 17 wounded in the attack.
A little-known group, Kashmir Resistance, claimed responsibility for the attack in a social media message. It expressed discontent that more than 85,000 “outsiders” had been settled in the region, spurring what it called a “demographic change”.
Indian security agencies say Kashmir Resistance is a front for Pakistan-based armed organisations, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen, which fight Indian rule in Kashmir. Pakistan says it only provides moral and diplomatic support.
Indian security forces launched a hunt for the attackers while the wounded were rushed to hospitals.
Two senior police officers also told AP that at least four gunmen fired at dozens of tourists from close range. All of those killed were men, and all but one were residents of India, according to a hospital list cited by the AFP news agency.
A tour guide in Pahalgam told AFP he approached the scene after hearing gunfire and helped transport some of the wounded away on horseback.
Waheed, who gave only one name, said he saw several men lying dead on the ground. Another witness told AFP that the attackers were “clearly sparing women”.
Indian security analyst C Uday Bhaskar told Al Jazeera the attack likely had two main objectives: to draw global attention to the issue of Kashmir, which has been under an intensified military crackdown since its semi-autonomous status was revoked by the Indian government about six years ago, and deepen military tensions between India and Pakistan.
Given that the attack has made headlines across the world, “is indicative of the fact that the first box has been ticked”, he said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who cut short an official visit to Saudi Arabia after the attack, decried the “heinous act”, pledging that the attackers “will be brought to justice”.
In a separate incident in Kashmir’s Baramulla district, the army said on Wednesday that it killed two gunmen in a “heavy exchange of fire” after they launched an “infiltration bid” crossing from Pakistan.
United States President Donald Trump pledged his support for India.
“Deeply disturbing news out of Kashmir,” he said on social media on Tuesday. “The United States stands strong with India against Terrorism.”
The Indian government later said Trump called Modi, who had received US Vice President JD Vance in New Delhi just a day before the attack, to offer his condolences.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “strongly condemned” the violence, his spokesperson said. He added that Guterres “stresses attacks against civilians are unacceptable under any circumstances”.
India’s Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah headed to Srinagar, the main city in Indian-administered Kashmir, where he said he would review the situation.
“We will come down heavily on the perpetrators with the harshest consequences,” Shah wrote in a post on the social media platform X.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a key separatist leader in Kashmir, condemned what he described as a “cowardly attack on tourists” in a post on X.
“Such violence is unacceptable and against the ethos of Kashmir, which welcomes visitors with love and warmth. [I] condemn it strongly.”
The attack follows violence earlier this month in Kashmir between security forces and suspected rebels, which resulted in six deaths, including four officers.
Attacks targeting tourists in Kashmir have been rare in recent years, the last one dating back to June, when fighters attacked a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims, plunging it into a deep gorge and killing at least nine people.
Responding to media queries concerning the attack in Anantnag district of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the Pakistani Spokesperson said:
“We are concerned at the loss of tourists’ lives in an attack in Anantnag district of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. We extend our condolences to the near ones of the deceased and wish the injured a speedy recovery.
