Military surge in high-danger area after massacre leaves 26 dead
At least 26 people, many of them tourists, have been killed in the India-controlled Kashmir region, triggering a massive bump up in security.
There is now increased security across Indian-controlled Kashmir a day after an attack killed at least 26 people, the majority of them tourists, as Indian forces launched a manhunt for the perpetrators of one of the deadliest attacks in the restive Himalayan region.
As authorities began investigating the attack, many shops and businesses in Kashmir closed in protest over the killings following a call from the region’s religious and political parties.
The shocking incident triggered tens of thousands of armed police and soldiers to sweep across the region and erect additional checkpoints. Reports say they searched cars and in some areas summoned former militants to police stations for questioning.
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Police are calling the incident a “terror attack” and blamed militants fighting against Indian rule.
The attack was claimed by “Kashmir Resistance,” a previously unknown militant group, via two messages on social media.
In the messages, the group said authorities had settled over 85,000 “outsiders” in the region and claimed that those targeted on Tuesday were not “ordinary tourists” but “were linked to and affiliated with Indian security agencies.” The group’s messages could not be independently verified.
Local government told its legislature earlier this month that 83,742 non-local Indians were granted domicile rights in Kashmir in the last two years.
Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi cut short his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia and returned to New Delhi early Wednesday.
Following the attack, some Indian media and some commentators immediately blamed Islamabad for directing such attacks, while Pakistan extended condolences to the victims’ families.
“We are concerned at the loss of tourists’ lives,” Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement while wishing the injured a speedy recovery.
Officials said 24 of the people killed were Indian tourists, one was from Nepal one was a local tourist guide, and at least 17 others were injured.
In a separate incident, soldiers killed two suspected militants in a gunfight after they tried to cross into the Indian side from Pakistan-controlled Kashmir in northwestern Baramulla district along the heavily militarized Line of Control dividing the region, the Indian army said in a statement on Wednesday. There was no independent confirmation of the incident.
In recent years Kashmir has seen a spate of deadly attacks on Hindus, including immigrant workers from Indian states, since New Delhi ended the region’s semi-autonomy in 2019 and drastically curbed dissent, civil liberties, and media freedoms.
New Delhi has made a strong push for tourism recently, and the region has drawn millions of visitors to its Himalayan foothills and exquisitely decorated houseboats.
Officials have claimed that as a sign of normalcy returning, despite the presence of ubiquitous security checkpoints, armored vehicles, and patrolling soldiers. Until Tuesday, tourists were not targeted.
Kashmir has been divided for decades, and both India and Pakistan each administer a part of it but both claim the territory in its entirety.
Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.
In March 2000, at least 35 civilians were shot and killed in a southern village in Kashmir shortly before a visit to India by then-President Bill Clinton.
In 2019, months before New Delhi revoked the region’s autonomy, a car bomb attack by militants in the southern Pulwama district killed at least 40 paramilitary soldiers and wounded dozens more, bringing India and Pakistan close to war.
Recently fighting between government forces and rebels has shifted to remote areas of Jammu region, including Rajouri, Poonch, and Kathua, where Indian troops have faced deadly attacks.
