At least 20 people were afraid of those killed after suspected fighters opened fire to tourists in the Indian territory of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, three sources of security from years the worst attack on civilians in the restless Himalayan region.
All three spoke provided anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
The attack took place in Pahalgam, a popular place in a picturesque, mountainous region, in which mass tourism, especially in the summer months, was reborn when Islamist combat violence softened in recent years.
“Shooting happened ahead of us,” said one of the witnesses of the sender of India today, without giving his name. “We thought someone was pretending to be firecrackers, but when we heard other (screaming) people, we left quickly …”
“For four kilometers we have not stopped … I shake,” another witness of India would say today.
The attack, which took place on an indefinite meadow, concerned two or three fighters, informed the Indian Express newspaper, citing an unidentified senior police officer.
“Death statement is still determined, so I do not want to enter these details,” said Jammu and cashmere Minister Omar Abdullah in a post on X, earlier Twitter. “Needless to say, this attack is much larger than anything we have seen to civilians in recent years.”
The victims of the victims were not immediately known.
A little -known group of fighters called Kashmir Resistance claimed that the responsibility for an attack on social media message. This expressed the dissatisfaction that over 85,000 “outside people” decided in the region, stimulating “demographic change”.
“Therefore, violence will be addressed to people trying to settle illegally,” he said.
Reuters could not independently verify the source of the message.
Special status withdrawn 6 years ago
The Regional Government of Jammu and Kashmir, in which Pahalgam is located, said this month that almost 84,000 Nie-Localia from India has received the rights to live in the territory in the last two years.
The Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi promised that the perpetrator would be justice.
“Their bad program will never succeed,” Modi said. “Our decision to fight terrorism is unmoved and will become even stronger.”
The Indian Interior Minister Amit Shah said he was in a hurry to organize a security meeting.
The Himalayan region, fully, but partly ruled through both India and Pakistan, was susceptible to combat violence from the beginning of the anti -eddic rebellion in 1989.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed, although violence has narrowed in recent years.
India withdrew the special status of cashmere in 2019, dividing the state into two territories managed by federal – Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
This movement also allowed local authorities to issue the right to live to outsiders, enabling them to find a job and buy land in the territory. This led to the deterioration of the bond with Pakistan, which also claims that the region.
The dispute was a source of bitter hostility and military conflict between the neighbors armed with nuclear.
Attacks addressed to tourists in Kashmir have become rare. The last fatal incident took place in June 2024, when at least nine people were killed, and 33 wounded after a warrior attack meant that the bus carrying Hindu pilgrims immersed in a deep gorge.
Some main attacks of fighters at the top of the uprising coincided with visits of loud foreign officials to India, probably trying to pay global attention to cashmere, they gave Indian security agencies.