Police in India claim that armed men killed at least 20 tourists in a seaside resort of the cashmere controlled by India.
Two higher police officers said that at least four armed men, whom they described as activists, shot dozens of tourists at close range.
The police said that at least three dozen others had been injured, with a lot in serious condition.
The authorities collected at least 20 bodies in Baisare Meadow, about five kilometers from the contested region's seaside resort.
Police described the incident as a “terrorist attack” and blamed the militants fighting the Indian regime.
It seemed to be a major change in the regional conflict in which tourists were largely spared.
“This attack is much greater than anything we have seen against civilians in recent years,” wrote Omar Abdullah, the best elected official in the region, in an article on social networks.
The police are looking for the attackers and there were no immediate complaints.
The Indian Minister of India, Amit Shah, was heading for Srinagar, the main city of cashmere controlled by India.
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on an official visit to Saudi Arabia, has been informed.
“We will come back to the authors of the most difficult consequences,” Shah wrote on social networks.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a key leader in cashmere resistance, condemned what he described as a “loose attack against tourists”, writing on social networks that “such violence is unacceptable and against the ethos of cashmere which welcomes visitors with love and warmth”.
The attack coincided with the visit of India to the American vice-president JD Vance, who is largely four days.
“In the past few days, we have been overwhelmed by the beauty of this country and its inhabitants. Our thoughts and prayers are with them while they cry this horrible attack,” said Vance on social networks.
The Prairie in Pahalgam is a popular tourist destination, surrounded by snowy mountains and dotted with pine forests. It is visited by hundreds of tourists every day.
ADVERTISEMENTThe nuclear weapons of India and Pakistan each administer part of the cashmere, but both claim the territory in its entirety.
The cashmere experienced a series of targeted murders of Hindus, including immigrant workers from the Indian states, after New Delhi ended the semi-autonomous status in the region in 2019 and radically led to dissent, civil freedoms and media freedoms.
Tensions have simmered while India has intensified its counterinsurgency operations.
The region, known for having rolled Himalayas, decorated barges and virgin meadows, has become a major tourist destination.
ADVERTISEMENTThe cashmere has attracted millions of visitors who enjoy a strange peace maintained by ubiquitous security checkpoints, armored vehicles and patrolling soldiers.
Although violence has been held in recent times in the cashmere valley, the heart of anti-Indian rebellion, the fights between government forces and rebels have largely moved to remote regions of the Jammu region, notably Réjouri, Poonch and Kathua, where Indian troops faced fatal attacks.
Activists of the part of the Kashmir Indians are fighting against New Delhi's rule since 1989.
Many Muslim cashmiris support the objective of union rebels the territory, either under Pakistani domination, or as an independent country.
ADVERTISEMENTIndia insists that cashmere activism is terrorism sponsored by Pakistan.
Pakistan denies the accusation, and many Kashmiris consider him a legitimate struggle of freedom.
Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces were killed in the conflict.
