Twenty-six were killed and 17 wounded when suspected militants attacked foreign and Indian tourists in Pahalgam’s Baisaran Valley, Jammu and Kashmir, on Tuesday.
Police confirmed that there were 25 Indians and a single Nepalese national among the victims, making the attack the deadliest targeting civilians since the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
The attack broke years of relative peace in Kashmir, where tourism had thrived with decreasing violence related to the insurgency.
The attack is considered a setback to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which has campaigned on the region’s increased security and development since the revoking of the semi-autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi shortened his Saudi Arabian official visit and returned to New Delhi early today. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman too cut her visit to the US and Peru short and returned to India, a finance ministry statement said.
Modi received top foreign affairs and security officials upon arrival, and later in the day a special cabinet security meeting was to be held.
Little-known “Kashmir Resistance” group accepted the responsibility over social media, accusing the victims of not being common tourists but rather people associated with India’s security agencies.
The community was outraged at the arrival of more than 85,000 “outsiders” to the area, arguing that this would cause demographic shifts.
“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”.
“Resistance fighters plan to intensify their strategic attacks to ensure that those involved in undermining … (the) resistance struggle face appropriate consequences,” it warned.
