At least 26 people have been shot dead after gunmen opened fire on visitors at a popular tourist spot in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
Police have described the incident as a ‘terror attack’ and blamed militants fighting against Indian rule in Pahalgam, known as India’s ‘Mini Switzerland’.
Two senior police officers said at least four gunmen, whom they described as militants, fired at dozens of tourists from close range.
The officers said at least three dozen people were wounded, many of them reported to be in serious condition.
Security has been beefed up across Indian-controlled Kashmir as Indian forces have launched a manhunt for the perpetrators of one of the deadliest attacks in the restive Himalayan region.
As investigators began probing the attack, many shops and businesses in Kashmir closed to protest the killings following a call from the region’s religious and political parties.
One witness said: ‘My husband was shot in the head while seven others were also injured in the attack.’
Tourist Asavari Jagdale revealed how a gunman came into the tent which her family were hiding in and shooting all of her male relatives.
Due to the area only being accessible by horseback, locals rushed to help with emergency efforts and transport the injured on ponies.
He said: ‘I saw people crying, screaming, just lying in the aftermath of the attack. There were children, women, men, everyone.
‘It was a massive trauma. I did not sleep all night.’
One witness said: ‘I cannot say how many, but the militants came out of the forest near an open small meadow and started firing.’
He added the gunfire was ‘like a storm’ and the gunmen ‘very clearly spared women and kept shooting at men’.
V K Birdi, inspector general of police in Kashmir, said the attack took place in a part of the Baisaran Valley which is only accessible by foot or horseback.
The attackers are yet to be caught, and no groups have yet claimed responsibility.
‘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 death toll is still being ascertained so I don’t want to get into those details.’
Initial reports said shots were fired at mostly Indian tourists visiting Baisaran meadow, around three miles from the disputed region’s resort town of Pahalgam.
Pahalgam is a popular destination in the scenic mountainous region where mass tourism, especially during the summer months, has resurged as Islamist militant violence has eased in recent years.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: ‘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.’
The attack coincided with the visit to India of US Vice President JD Vance, who called it a ‘devastating terrorist attack’.
He added on social media: ‘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 on social media noted ‘deeply disturbing news out of Kashmir.
‘The United States stands strong with India against terrorism.’
Other global leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, condemned the attack.
Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan each administer a 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 counterinsurgency operations.
But despite tourists flocking to Kashmir in huge numbers for its Himalayan foothills and exquisitely decorated houseboats, they have not been targeted.
The region has drawn millions of visitors who enjoy a strange peace kept by ubiquitous security checkpoints, armoured vehicles and patrolling soldiers.
New Delhi has vigorously pushed tourism and claimed it as a sign of normalcy returning.
The meadow in Pahalgam is a popular destination, surrounded by snow-capped mountains and dotted with pine forests. It is visited by hundreds of tourists every day.
Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, while condemning the attack, said Modi’s government should take accountability instead of making ‘hollow claims on the situation being normal’ in the region.
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.
Pakistan 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.
In March 2000, at least 35 civilians were shot and killed in a southern village in Kashmir while then-US President Bill Clinton was visiting India.
It was the region’s deadliest attack in the past couple of decades.
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.
