At least 26 tourists gunned down by suspected militants in Kashmir attack

At least 26 tourists have been shot dead and ten injured after suspected militants opened fire at a popular local tourist destination in Kashmir during a scheduled four-day visit to the country by the US president JD Vance, The Guardian reported.

The majority of the victims were Indian, although two foreign nationals were also reportedly among the dead.

The 3pm attack occurred in the Baisaran Valley, a picturesque meadow in Pahalgam, a renowned tourist town located 30 miles south-east of Srinagar, the region’s main city, in what officials are describing as the deadliest attack on civilians in the region in recent years.

Today, India’s army announced they had killed two gunmen in Kashmir close to the contested frontier with Pakistan, Arab News reported.

It should be mentioned that Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947, with both claiming the territory in full. India has an estimated 500,000 soldiers permanently deployed in the territory.