Indian police say gunmen have killed at least 20 tourists at a resort in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
Two senior police officers said at least four gunmen, whom they described as militants, fired at dozens of tourists from close range Tuesday. The officers said at least three dozen others were injured, many in serious condition. They spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with departmental policy.
Officials collected at least 20 bodies in Baisaran meadow, some 3 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. It appeared to be a major shift in the regional conflict in which tourists have largely been spared.
“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.
Police were searching for the attackers. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
India’s home minister, Amit Shah, was heading to Srinagar, the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on an official visit in Saudi Arabia, has been briefed.
“We will come down heavily on the perpetrators with the harshest consequences,” Shah wrote on social media.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a key Kashmiri resistance leader, condemned what he described as a “cowardly attack on tourists,” writing on socila 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 U.S. 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,” Vance said on social media.
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 counterinsurgency operations.
The region, known for rolling Himalayan foothills, exquisitely decorated houseboats and pristine meadows, has become a major domestic tourist destination. Kashmir has drawn millions of visitors who enjoy a strange peace kept by ubiquitous security checkpoints, armored 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. 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.
