By Parvaiz Bukhari Space War
Indian security forces in Kashmir were conducting a major manhunt on Wednesday, a day after gunmen opened fire on tourists and killed 26 people in the region’s worst attack on civilians in a quarter of a century.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who cut short a state visit to Saudi Arabia, decried the “heinous act” and pledged that the attackers “will be brought to justice.”
Modi is set to hold an emergency cabinet meeting with top security chiefs later on Wednesday.
“Their evil agenda will never succeed,” Modi said in a statement shortly after the attack. “Our resolve to fight terrorism is unshakable and it will get even stronger.”
A hospital list verified by police recorded 26 men who were killed on Tuesday afternoon when gunmen burst out of forests at a popular tourist spot in Pahalgam and raked crowds of visitors with automatic weapons.
All those killed were listed as residents of India except one man from Nepal.
No group has claimed responsibility but rebels in the Muslim-majority region have waged an insurgency since 1989.
They are seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan, which controls a smaller part of the Kashmir region and, like India, claims it in full.
– ‘Serious risk’ –
India regularly blames Pakistan for backing gunmen behind the insurgency.
Islamabad denies the allegation, saying it only supports Kashmir’s struggle for self-determination.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry offered its “condolences to the near ones of the deceased.”
Analyst Michael Kugelman said the attack posed a “very serious risk of a new crisis between India and Pakistan, and probably the most serious risk of a crisis since the brief military conflict that happened in 2019.”
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the attack had been “much larger than anything we’ve seen directed at civilians” in recent years.
The bodies of those killed were brought to Srinagar by a fleet of ambulances on Wednesday as military helicopters soared overhead, searching the forested mountain flanks for signs of the attackers.
“This attack on our visitors is an abomination,” Abdullah said in a statement.
“The perpetrators of this attack are animals, inhuman and worthy of contempt.”
In a separate incident at Baramulla on Wednesday, the army killed two people after a “heavy exchange of fire,” saying the gunmen were part of an “infiltration bid” crossing the contested frontier from Pakistan.
– Blood stains –
AFP journalists near the site of the Pahalgam attack reported a heavy deployment of security forces. Pahalgam is popular with tourists in summer and is about 90 kilometres (55 miles) by road from the city of Srinagar.
Smears of blood could still be seen on the grass where the killings took place as forensic investigators searched for evidence.
A tour guide told AFP he had carried some of the wounded away on horseback.
Waheed, who gave only one name, said he saw several men lying dead on the ground, while a witness who requested anonymity said the attackers were “clearly sparing women.”
The killings came a day after Modi met US Vice President JD Vance in New Delhi.
The deadliest previous attack on civilians was in March 2000, when 36 Indians were killed on the eve of a visit by US president Bill Clinton.
– ‘Heinous’ –
Tuesday’s killings sparked global condemnation.
US President Donald Trump called Modi to offer “full support to India to bring to justice the perpetrators of this heinous attack.”
China, which neighbours the troubled region, offered its “sincere sympathies” to the families of those killed.
India has an estimated 500,000 soldiers permanently deployed in the territory but fighting has eased since Modi’s government revoked Kashmir’s limited autonomy in 2019.
Authorities in recent years have promoted the mountainous region as a holiday destination, both for skiing in winter and to escape the sweltering summer heat elsewhere in India.
Around 3.5 million tourists visited Kashmir in 2024, mostly domestic visitors. Air India said it was adding two extra flights out of Srinagar on Wednesday as terrified tourists sought to return home.
The worst attack in recent years was in Pulwama in February 2019, when insurgents rammed a car packed with explosives into a police convoy, killing 40 and wounding at least 35 others.
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