Gunmen attack tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir, 24 dead: Police source

At least 24 people were killed in Indian-administered Kashmir when gunmen opened fire on a group of tourists on Tuesday, a senior police officer said, with authorities calling it the worst attack on civilians in years.

“At least 24 people have been killed,” the senior police officer in Kashmir told AFP on condition of anonymity, with the toll not yet announced officially.

“I strongly condemn the cowardly attack on tourists in Pahalgam, which tragically killed five and injured several,” Mehbooba Mufti, former chief minister of the region, who heads the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, 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.

“These cowardly terrorists have targeted unarmed innocent tourists who had come to visit Kashmir,” Ravinder Raina, from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, told Indian broadcasters.

“Some tourists have been admitted to the local hospital in an injured condition.”

Around 3.5 million tourists visited Kashmir in 2024, according to official figures, the majority domestic visitors.

In 2023, India hosted a G20 tourism meeting in Srinagar under tight security in a bid to show that what officials call “normalcy and peace” were returning after a massive crackdown following New Delhi’s revocation of the region’s limited autonomy in 2019.

Fighting has decreased since 2019 when Modi’s government imposed direct control of the territory from New Delhi after cancelling its partial autonomy.

India has an estimated 500,000 soldiers permanently deployed in the territory.

India regularly blames Pakistan for backing the fighters.

Islamabad denies the allegation, saying it only supports Kashmir’s struggle for self-determination.