At least 17 people were also injured in the shooting that took place on Tuesday in the Baisaran valley in the Pahalgam area of the scenic, Himalayan federal territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The dead included 25 Indians and one Nepalese national, police said.
The attack is seen as a setback to what Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party have projected as a major achievement in revoking the semi-autonomous status Jammu and Kashmir enjoyed and bringing peace and development to the long-troubled Muslim-majority region.
Modi held a meeting with the national security adviser, the foreign minister and other senior officials at the airport and a special security cabinet meeting was called for 1230 GMT, a defence ministry official said.
“There will be a loud and clear response soon,“ he said at a memorial lecture for a former Indian Air Force chief.
Pakistan denies the accusations and says it only provides moral, political and diplomatic support to the insurgency in Kashmir.
Security forces rushed to the Pahalgam area soon after the attack and began combing the forests there, two security sources told Reuters. About 100 people, suspected to have been militant sympathisers in the past, were called to police stations and questioned, they added.
A little-known militant group, the “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 a “demographic change”.
“It was not a typical tourist group but rather an undercover agency tasked with research,“ it said and added that the attack should “serve as a wake-up call not only for Delhi but also for those who support Delhi’s questionable strategies”.
Indian security agencies say Kashmir Resistance, also known as The Resistance Front, is a front for Pakistan-based militant organisations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen.
KASHMIR SHUTDOWN
Many schools also suspended classes for the day in protest.
“I want to say to the people of the country that we are ashamed, Kashmir is ashamed,“ former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said in a statement. “We are standing with you in this time of crisis.”
“It’s heartbreaking to see the exodus of our guests,“ serving Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on X, adding that the main highway connecting Srinagar to the rest of the country which was damaged by heavy rain had been opened for one-way traffic out of Srinagar to help tourists leaving by road.
“We will continue to encourage travel to the Valley and stand strong against those who seek to spread fear and unrest,“ local unit chairman Shamim Shah said in a statement.
India revoked Kashmir’s special status in 2019, splitting the state into two federally administered territories - Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. The move allowed local authorities to issue domicile rights to outsiders, allowing them to get jobs and buy land in the territory, but led to a deterioration of ties with Pakistan.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( India pledges strong response after militant attack on Kashmir tourists kills 26 )
Also on site :