Gunmen kill at least 26 tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir

At least 26 tourists have been killed by gunmen at a tourist resort in Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said.

Two senior officers said at least four gunmen, whom they described as militants, fired at dozens of tourists from close range on Tuesday.

The officers said at least three dozen others were injured, with many in serious condition.

Most of the tourists killed were Indian, the officers said.

Officials collected at least 24 bodies in Baisaran meadow, three miles from the disputed region’s resort town of Pahalgam. Two others died while being taken for medical treatment.

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.

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”.

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.

US President Donald Trump noted “deeply disturbing news out of Kashmir”, adding: “The United States stands strong with India against terrorism.”

The meadow in Pahalgam is a popular sightseeing destination, surrounded by snow-capped mountains and dotted with pine forests. It is visited by hundreds of tourists every day.

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.

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.