A devastating terror attack has rocked Indian-controlled Kashmir, leaving at least 26 tourists dead and more than three dozen others wounded, many critically, after four gunmen opened fire in a popular resort town.
The assault happened around 3:00PM local time Tuesday in the picturesque Baisaran Valley in Pahalgam — an area often referred to as the “Switzerland of India”, The Guardian reports.
The shooters, described by authorities as anti-India militants, emerged from dense forest and sprayed bullets at close range into a group of tourists.
According to local police, the assailants appeared to descend from nearby mountainous terrain before unleashing chaos on foot.
The carnage unfolded as U.S. Vice President JD Vance was visiting the region on a four-day family trip.
“I’m shocked beyond belief,” wrote Omar Abdullah, the region’s top elected official, on social media, per the New York Post. “This attack on our visitors is an abomination. The perpetrators of this attack are animals, inhuman & worthy of contempt. No words of condemnation are enough. I send my sympathies to the families of the deceased.”
Authorities recovered 24 bodies from the Baisaran meadows — located roughly three miles from Pahalgam town — while two others died en route to the hospital. Most of the victims were Indian nationals, although two foreign tourists were also reportedly killed.
Graphic footage shared by locals on social media showed victims lying in pools of blood, while relatives screamed for help. Because of limited road access, helicopters had to be deployed to evacuate the injured.
An Indian Army official, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the attack as the most lethal assault on civilians in the region in recent years. Abdullah echoed that sentiment, writing: “The death toll is still being assessed, while noting the fatal attack is ‘much larger than anything we’ve seen directed at civilians in recent years.’”