India says 3 militants behind Kashmir shooting that sparked tensions
with Pakistan have been killed
[July 29, 2025]
NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s home minister said Tuesday that three
suspected militants who were killed in a gunfight in disputed Kashmir a
day earlier were responsible for the gun massacre in the region that led
to a military clash between India and Pakistan earlier this year.
Amit Shah said the three men were Pakistani nationals who were killed in
a joint operation by the military, paramilitary and police Monday on the
outskirts of Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar. Shah made the remarks in
India’s lower house of the parliament, and The Associated Press couldn’t
independently verify the details. |
Jammu and Kashmir Special Operation Group (SOG) personnel arrive near
the site of a gun battle on the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled
Kashmir, Monday, July 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) |
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Shah said the bodies of the men were identified by people who
had provided food and shelter to them before they carried out
the massacre in April. He cited a forensic report and said the
rifle cartridges found at Monday's gunbattle site matched those
used during the attack.
The April gun massacre killed 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists.
New Delhi blamed the attack on Pakistan, which denied
responsibility while calling for a neutral investigation.
It led to tit-for-tat military strikes by India and Pakistan
that brought the nuclear-armed rivals to the brink of their
third war over the region. Dozens of people were killed on both
sides until a ceasefire was reached on May 10 after U.S.
mediation.
The four-day fighting between the nuclear-armed rivals was their
worst in decades.
Before the April gun massacre in the Kashmiri resort town of
Pahalgam, fighting had largely ebbed in the region’s Kashmir
Valley, the heartland of anti-India rebellion and mainly shifted
to mountainous areas of Jammu in the last few years.
India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both
claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety. Militants in the
Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New
Delhi’s rule since 1989.
India describes militancy in Kashmir as Pakistan-backed
terrorism. Pakistan denies it.
Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the
territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent
country. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government
forces have been killed in the conflict.
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