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Kashmir taking pictures: Gunmen kill at the very least 20 vacationers at resort, Indian police say


SRINAGAR, India — Gunmen shot lifeless at the very least 20 vacationers at a resort in Indian-controlled Kashmir, police mentioned Tuesday, in what gave the impression to be a serious shift within the regional battle wherein vacationers have largely been spared.

Police described the incident as a “terror assault” and blamed militants combating towards Indian rule. “This assault is way bigger than something we have seen directed at civilians in recent times,” Omar Abdullah, the area’s prime elected official, wrote on social media.

Two senior cops mentioned at the very least 4 gunmen, whom they described as militants, fired at dozens of vacationers from shut vary. The officers mentioned at the very least three dozen others have been injured, many in critical situation.

Paramedic carries a wounded vacationer on a stretcher in Anantnag after assailants indiscriminately fired at vacationers in Pahalgam, Indian managed Kashmir, Tuesday, April 22, 2025.

AP Photograph/Dar Yasin

Many of the vacationers killed have been Indian, the officers mentioned, talking on situation of anonymity consistent with departmental coverage. Officers collected at the very least 20 our bodies in Baisaran meadow, some 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the disputed area’s resort city of Pahalgam.

There was no rapid declare of accountability. Police and troopers have been trying to find the attackers.

“We are going to come down closely on the perpetrators with the harshest penalties,” India’s house minister, Amit Shah, wrote on social media. He arrived in Srinagar, the primary metropolis in Indian-controlled Kashmir, and convened a gathering with prime safety officers. He mentioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on an official go to in Saudi Arabia, has been briefed.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a key resistance politician and Kashmir’s prime non secular cleric, condemned what he described as a “cowardly assault on vacationers,” writing on social media that “such violence is unacceptable and towards the ethos of Kashmir which welcomes guests with love and heat.”

The gunfire coincided with the go to to India of U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who known as it a “devastating terrorist assault.”

He added on social media: “Over the previous few days, we’ve been overcome with the great thing about this nation and its individuals. Our ideas and prayers are with them as they mourn this horrific assault.”

The meadow in Pahalgam is a well-liked vacation spot, surrounded by snow-capped mountains and dotted with pine forests. It’s visited by tons of of vacationers every single day as Kashmir, recognized for Himalayan foothills and exquisitely adorned houseboats, has grow to be a serious home vacationer vacation spot.

It has drawn tens of millions of tourists who get pleasure from a wierd peace saved by ubiquitous safety checkpoints, armored autos and patrolling troopers.

Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan every administer a part of Kashmir, however each declare the territory in its entirety.

Kashmir has seen a spate of focused killings of Hindus, together with immigrant employees from Indian states, after New Delhi ended the area’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. However regardless of vacationers flocking to Kashmir in enormous numbers, they haven’t been focused.

Militants within the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been combating New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris help the rebels’ objective of uniting the territory, both below Pakistani rule or as an impartial nation.

India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the cost, and plenty of Kashmiris contemplate it a authentic freedom battle. Tens of hundreds of civilians, rebels and authorities forces have been killed within the battle.

Violence has ebbed in latest occasions within the Kashmir Valley, the guts of anti-India riot. Combating between authorities forces and rebels has largely shifted to distant areas of Jammu area together with Rajouri, Poonch and Kathua, the place Indian troops have confronted lethal assaults.

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Related Press author Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2025 by The Related Press. All Rights Reserved.

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