Terrorists Gun Down 26 Tourists in Kashmir

U.S. President Donald Trump said: ‘Deeply disturbing news out of Kashmir. The United States stands strong with India against terrorism.’

Indian security officers stand guard on a highway in south Kashmir, India, on April 22, 2025. Dar Yasin/AP

Terrorists shot dead 26 tourists at a resort in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Tuesday, with the region’s chief minister calling the attackers “inhuman.”

The gunmen also wounded dozens of people, including two senior police officers, during the attack in Baisaran meadow, three miles from the resort town of Pahalgam.

The chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, posted on social media platform X on Tuesday: “I’m shocked beyond belief. This attack on our visitors is an abomination. The perpetrators of this attack are animals, inhuman and worthy of contempt.”

Trump Offers ‘Full Support’

U.S. President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, “Deeply disturbing news out of Kashmir. The United States stands strong with India against terrorism.”

“We pray for the souls of those lost, and for the recovery of the injured. Prime Minister Modi, and the incredible people of India, have our full support and deepest sympathies,” he added.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance is in India, on a four-day visit, having arrived in New Delhi on Monday and met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Vance wrote on X:“Usha and I extend our condolences to the victims of the devastating terrorist attack in Pahalgam, India. Over the past few days, we have been overcome with the beauty of this country and its people. Our thoughts and prayers are with them as they mourn this horrific attack.”

The Press Trust of India (PTI) reported Modi was cutting short a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia and returning to New Delhi on Wednesday.

The meadow at Baisaran, which is surrounded by pine forests and snow-capped mountains, is a popular destination which is visited by hundreds of tourists every day.

At at least 24 bodies were found in the aftermath of the attack, and two people died en route to hospital.

Paramedic carry a wounded tourist on a stretcher at a hospital in Anantnag in Indian-controlled Kashmir, on April 22, 2025. Dar Yasin/AP

Terrorist groups—some, such as the Islamist Lashkar-e-Taiba, want to join Pakistan, and others want independence for Kashmir—have in the past attacked the Indian military and the security forces, but Tuesday’s incident would appear to be the first attack on tourists.

PTI said The Resistance Front, a “shadow outfit” of Lashkar-e-Taiba, had claimed responsibility for the attack, but The Epoch Times is unable to verify that claim.

Lashkar-e-Taiba—which had links to al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban, has been sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council since 2005 and is designated as a terrorist group by the United States.

But India has frequently claimed Pakistan gives shelter to Lashkar-e-Taiba and other Kashmiri terrorist groups.

In 2019, after a suicide bomber killed 44 Indian paramilitary police officers in Kashmir, New Delhi demanded Pakistan take action against terrorists operating from its soil.

Kashmir has been disputed between India and Pakistan since 1947 when the British Empire withdrew from the sub-continent, leaving the region’s future in confusion.

India controls the majority of Kashmir, but Pakistan administers the northern and western areas and China controls territory in the east, some of which was ceded by Pakistan.

In 2019 India officially split the former state of Jammu and Kashmir into two federally governed territories—one, Jammu-Kashmir, bordering Pakistan, and the other, Ladakh, bordering China.

India Promises ‘Harshest Consequences’

On Tuesday, India’s home minister, Amit Shah, wrote on X, “We will come down heavily on the perpetrators with the harshest consequences.”

He then headed to Srinagar, the main city of Kashmir, and held a meeting with top security officials.

Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has ruled India since 2014, but at legislative elections in Oct. 2024 the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) defeated the BJP and Omar Abdullah became chief minister.

Abdullah posted on X on Wednesday, “It’s heartbreaking to see the exodus of our guests from the valley after yesterday’s tragic terror attack in Pahalgam but at the same time we totally understand why people would want to leave.”

He said the civil aviation ministry was organizing extra flights out of the region and the NH-44 highway between Srinagar and the city of Jammu in southern Kashmir—which was closed on Tuesday after the attack—had been reconnected for traffic in a single direction.

Kashmir’s most senior Islamic cleric, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq condemned the attacks in a statement on X.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.