Militants kill at least 26 tourists at a resort in Indian-controlled
Kashmir
[April 23, 2025]
By AIJAZ HUSSAIN
SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Gunmen shot and killed at least 26 tourists
Tuesday at a resort in Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said, in what
appeared to be a major shift in a regional conflict in which tourists
have largely been spared.
Police blamed militants fighting against Indian rule for the attack in
Baisaran meadow, some 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the disputed region’s
resort town of Pahalgam. At least three dozen people were wounded, many
of them seriously, according to two senior police officers.
“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 two officers said at least four militants fired at dozens of
tourists from close range. Most of the killed tourists were Indian, they
said, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with departmental
policy.
At at least 24 bodies were collected in the aftermath of the attack and
two people died while being taken for medical treatment. There was no
immediate claim of responsibility. Police and soldiers were searching
for the attackers.
“We will come down heavily on the perpetrators with the harshest
consequences,” India’s home minister, Amit Shah, wrote on social media.
He arrived in Srinagar, the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir, and
convened a meeting with top security officials.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was cutting short his two-day visit
to Saudi Arabia and returning to New Delhi early Wednesday, the Press
Trust of India news agency reported.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the attack
and stressed that “attacks against civilians are unacceptable under any
circumstances,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Kashmir’s top religious cleric, said on social
media that “such violence is unacceptable and against the ethos of
Kashmir, which welcomes visitors with love and warmth.”
U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who was visiting India, 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.”
U.S. President Donald Trump noted on social media the “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.
“The United States stands with India,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco
Rubio said on X.
Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan each administer a part of
Kashmir but both claim the territory in its entirety.
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Paramedics carry a wounded tourist on a stretcher at a hospital in
Anantnag after assailants indiscriminately fired at tourists
visiting Pahalgam, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, April 22,
2025.(AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
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, armored 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-U.S. 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.
___
Associated Press writers Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi, Michelle Price
in Washington and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed
to this report.
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