Indian officials on Wednesday continued to to a deadly mass shooting at a popular tourist location in India-administered Kashmir, which killed at least 26 people and wounded 17 others. Security was tightened throughout the region, with schools closed and roadblocks set up.
Eyewitnesses told Indian media that on Tuesday afternoon, gunmen dressed in military-style uniforms emerged from nearby forests and , a popular hiking spot located outside the town of Pahalgam in the southern district of Anantnag.
The Indian government in recent years has promoted Jammu and Kashmir as a tourist destination, having consolidated over the region while beefing up security against a decades-long insurgency opposing its rule.
Kashmir a dangerous flashpoint
India and Pakistan both claim Kashmir in its entirety, but each country only controls a section of territory, which makes the Muslim-majority region a .
Tuesday’s attack, which India considers a terrorist attack, is the deadliest targeting Indian civilians since the and threatens to again raise to a dangerous level.
Claiming responsibility is a militant group called The Resistance Front (TRF), which India says is a terror organization affiliated with the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group.
The TRF considers itself to be a Kashmiri separatist group, which formed in 2019 after New Delhi scrapped Jammu and Kashmir’s semi-autonomous status, downgrading it from a state and splitting it into two union territories, thereby .
The move, which allows non-Kashmiris to buy property and participate in government, has angered many Muslim Kashmiris who by a Hindu nationalist agenda under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
It also provoked tensions with Pakistan. New Delhi says the change has allowed the region to be better integrated into India as a whole, along with economic and security benefits.
India resolved to fight ‘terrorism’
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Modi met with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, along with regional security chiefs, to examine the possible course of action.
“Those behind this heinous act will be brought to justice … Our resolve to fight terrorism is unshakable and it will get even stronger,” Modi posted on X.
Jammu and Kashmir’s Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the attack was “much larger than anything we’ve seen directed at civilians in recent years. I’m shocked beyond belief. This attack on our visitors is an abomination.”
On Wednesday, India’s Home (Interior) Minister Amit Shah visited the scene of the attack and met with family members of those who were killed and injured.
Tens of thousands of security forces were deployed to patrol the region and set up additional checkpoints.
Regional political parties also organized protest rallies condemning the attack.
Anjum Fazili, president of the women’s wing of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Jammu and Kashmir, told DW that locals feel “deep sorrow and shame” over the attack, while calling for authorities to “punish” those responsible.
“This is an extremely tragic and heartbreaking incident. The people who came here to enjoy the beauty and peace of this place have lost their lives,” she said.
The last targeting civilians in India-administered Kashmir occurred in June 2024, when nine people were killed and 33 injured after armed gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims, causing it to plunge into a gorge in Reasi district of Jammu. Local police say the attack was carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba.
In February 2019, a suicide bombing in Pulwama killed at least 46 soldiers and prompted . That attack was claimed by Pakistan-based Islamist militant group .
Former Jammu and Kashmir police chief A K Suri told DW that the attack on Pahalgam is a setback for New Delhi’s security paradigm in Kashmir.
“This terror attack in Pahalgam has undoubtedly cast a shadow over the Indian government’s narrative of restored normalcy and booming tourism in the region,” he said.
“This is not the end. Such sporadic attacks will continue at intermittent times to shock and awe. Unfortunately, there has been a lack of intelligence and insufficient deployment of security forces in the Pahalgam area, which is teeming with tourists right now,” said Suri.
Kashmir tourism targeted
Baisaran, a popular scenic spot known as “mini-Switzerland,” was full of tourists when the attack took place.
Tourism is a major source of revenue in India-administered Kashmir and is heavily tied to the central government’s normalization efforts for the region.
Last month, Chief Minister Abdullah told the state assembly that over 23 million tourists visited Jammu and Kashmir last year.
The incident has raised fresh concerns about tourist safety, especially with the upcoming Amarnath Yatra Hindu pilgrimage scheduled to begin in July, which sees many thousands of devotees trek to a sacred temple in the Anantnag district.
“This attack will have significant implications for the Valley. This is peak tourism time and we were settling in when this horrific incident happened,” Abdul Wani, a tour operator from regional capital Srinagar, told DW.
What happens now?
Radha Kumar, a former Kashmir interlocutor and a specialist on peace and conflict in South Asia, told DW that the attackers in Pahalgam targeted Hindu men, which was reminiscent of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.
“The horrific Pahalgam attack was clearly in the planning for weeks if not months,” she said.
“I do not know how the Indian government will react but there is a great deal of justified pressure on them to respond in a way that will act as a serious deterrent to armed radicals and their supporters in Pakistan,” Kumar added.
She also emphasised that many in India will connect the attack to Pakistan army chief Asif Munir referring to Kashmir as Pakistan’s “jugular vein” during a speech in Islamabad last week that emphasized religious and cultural differences between Hindus and Muslims.
Former Jammu and Kashmir police chief Suri pointed out that the attack coincided both with Munir’s speech and a by US Vice President JD Vance this week.
“The significance is not lost and [the attack] is a deliberate act to destabilize India’s Kashmir narrative and signal Pakistan’s continued influence over Kashmir militancy, Suri added.
Pakistan denies that it supports and funds militant groups in , and insists it offers only moral and diplomatic support.
A spokesperson for the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said his country was concerned about the loss of lives in the region, adding it “wished the injured a speedy recovery.”
For now, government faces immediate pressure to strengthen security and reassure tourists, without escalating into broader conflict with .
Rahul Gandhi, opposition leader from the Indian National Congress, criticized the ruling BJP for “making hollow claims of the situation being normal in Jammu and Kashmir,” and called on the government to take “accountability and concrete steps” to prevent more violence in the future.
Khalid Khan in Kashmir contributed to this report
Edited by: Wesley Rahn
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