No declare of duty however police name it ‘terror assault’ by rebels below intensifying army crackdown in area.
Armed males opened hearth on a bunch of vacationers in Indian-administered Kashmir, with a few of them feared killed.
Police mentioned a number of vacationers obtained gunshot wounds within the “terror assault” on Tuesday whereas they have been visiting Baisaran meadow, some 5km (3 miles) from the disputed area’s resort city of Pahalgam.
“This assault is way bigger than something we’ve seen directed at civilians lately,” Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, the area’s prime elected official, wrote on social media.
“The demise toll continues to be being ascertained so I don’t wish to get into these particulars,” he mentioned.
No group had claimed duty for the assault, which police blamed on armed teams combating towards Indian rule, in line with The Related Press information company. Safety forces launched a hunt for the attackers whereas the wounded have been rushed to hospitals.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who’s on an official go to in Saudi Arabia, decried the “heinous act” in Pahalgam, pledging the attackers “will likely be delivered to justice”.
I strongly condemn the fear assault in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. Condolences to those that have misplaced their family members. I pray that the injured get better on the earliest. All potential help is being offered to these affected.
These behind this heinous act will likely be introduced…
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 22, 2025
India’s inside minister, Amit Shah, is heading to Srinagar, the principle metropolis in Indian-controlled Kashmir, the place he mentioned he would evaluate the scenario.
“We’ll come down closely on the perpetrators with the harshest penalties,” Shah wrote in a put up on the X social media platform.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a key Kashmiri resistance chief, condemned what he described as a “cowardly assault on vacationers” in a put up on X. “Such violence is unacceptable and towards the ethos of Kashmir which welcomes guests with love and heat. Condemn it strongly.”
Kashmir has been below an intensified military crackdown since its semi-autonomous status was revoked by the Indian authorities about six years in the past.
The assault follows violence earlier this month between safety forces and suspected rebels, which resulted in six deaths, together with 4 officers.
Assaults focusing on vacationers in Kashmir have been uncommon lately, the final one courting again to June, when fighters attacked a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims, plunging it right into a deep gorge and killing at the very least 9 individuals.
Between India and Pakistan
Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan every administer a part of Kashmir, however each declare the territory in its entirety.
Many within the Muslim-majority, Indian-administered Kashmir help the rebels’ purpose of uniting the territory with Pakistan or creating an impartial nation.
India insists the Kashmir rebellion is Pakistan-sponsored. Pakistan denies the cost, and lots of Kashmiris think about it a legit freedom battle.
The Indian authorities, led by the Bharatiya Janata Get together (BJP), revoked Kashmir’s particular standing in 2019, splitting the state into two federally administered territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
The identical 12 months, a report by the Workplace of the United Nations Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights accused India of human rights violations in Kashmir and referred to as for a fee of inquiry into the allegations.
