26 gunned down at tourist resort in held Kashmir

PAHALGAM, held Kashmir: At least 26 people were killed Tuesday in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) when gunmen opened fire on tourists, security sources told AFP, in the insurgency-hit region’s deadliest attack on civilians since 2000.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi decried the “heinous act” in the summer retreat of Pahalgam, pledging the attackers “will be brought to justice”.

The killings come a day after Modi met in New Delhi with US Vice President JD Vance, who is on a four-day tour of India with his wife and children.

A tour guide in Pahalgam told AFP he reached the scene after hearing gunfire and had transported some of the wounded away on horseback.

Waheed, who gave only one name, said he saw several men lying dead on the ground, while a witness who requested anonymity said the attackers were “clearly sparing women”. The witness said dozens of people fled as the gunmen opened fire. “They all started running around in panic”, he added. Pahalgam lies 90 kilometres by road from the key city of Srinagar.

“The militants, I can’t say how many, came out of the forest near an open small meadow and started firing,” said the witness who asked not to be identified. “They were clearly sparing women and kept shooting at men, sometimes single shot and sometimes many bullets, it was like a storm,” said the man, who cares for horses that are popular with tourists in the area.

One security source said that foreign tourists were among those shot, but there was no official confirmation. Other security sources and some Indian media reported late Tuesday that 26 people had died, an increase from the 24 that a senior local police officer had earlier told AFP.

No group has claimed responsibility, but militants in the Muslim-majority region have waged an insurgency since 1989. They are seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan, which controls a smaller part of the Kashmir region and, like India, claims it in full.

Vance offered condolences in a social media post, while President Donald Trump said, “The United States stands strong with India against Terrorism.”

Modi, who is in Saudi Arabia, has cut short his trip to return home, foreign ministry officials said.

“Their evil agenda will never succeed. Our resolve to fight terrorism is unshakable and it will get even stronger,” Modi said in a statement.

IIOJK Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said that “the attack is much larger than anything we’ve seen directed at civilians in recent years”, with the death toll still uncertain.

“This attack on our visitors is an abomination,” he added in a statement. “The perpetrators of this attack are animals, inhuman and worthy of contempt.”

Medics at a hospital in Anantnag said they had received some of the wounded, including with gunshot wounds.

India has an estimated 500,000 soldiers permanently deployed in the territory, but fighting decreased since Modi’s government revoked IIOJK´s limited autonomy in 2019.

In recent years, the authorities have promoted the mountainous region as a holiday destination, both for winter skiing, and to escape the sweltering summer heat elsewhere in India.

Around 3.5 million tourists visited Kashmir in 2024, the majority domestic visitors.

In 2023, India hosted a G20 tourism meeting in Srinagar under tight security in a bid to show that what officials call “normalcy and peace” were returning after a massive crackdown.

A string of resorts is being developed, including some close to the heavily militarised Line of Control that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

India regularly blames Pakistan for backing gunmen behind the insurgency. Islamabad denies the allegation, saying it only supports Kashmir’s struggle for self-determination.

Meanwhile, sources in Pakistan said that the Indian authorities have staged another false flag operation with reported killing of tourists.

They said that soon after the terror attack, the Indian social media, particularly which is associated with enemy’s hostile agency RAW, started unleashing poisonous propaganda against Pakistan. The sources said that it happens that India stages false-flag operation at a time when any foreign dignitary is on visit to the country to deviate the world’s attention from Indian government’s failure to control the security situation.

The Indian social media also used religion card by propagating that non-Muslims were targeted in the Pahlgam terrorist attack. “This is not just a coincidence, rather this time the terror attack was carried out at a time when the US vice president is undertaking India’s visit,” the sources said.

The Modi-led Indian government had also been staging false-flag operations in the past to cover up its failures and to serve political interests.

The sources said that the Indian government and army due to their brutal activities in the IIOJK, had miserably failed to control the law and situation there.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Peoples Party leader Senator Sherry Rehman has strongly responded to the Indian propaganda, calling the accusations against Pakistan completely baseless. In a statement, she urged the international community to reject India’s false narrative. “We categorically condemn terrorism in all its forms, and it is important to note that Pakistan itself is actively fighting a war against terrorism,” she said in a statement.

Senator Sherry highlighted the heavy deployment of Indian forces in Occupied Kashmir, pointing out that despite stationing hundreds of thousands of troops, India has failed to maintain control. “Now, in an attempt to hide its own failures, India is trying to shift the blame onto Pakistan,” she added.