In India’s deadliest terrorist attack in nearly two decades, 26 people were killed and 17 injured when suspected militants opened fire on tourists in the Kashmir region, triggering national outrage and renewed concerns over security in the volatile territory.

Twenty-six people were killed and 17 others injured in a brutal shooting by suspected militants targeting tourists in India's Jammu and Kashmir region, police reported on Wednesday. The attack, which occurred on Tuesday in the scenic tourist town of Pahalgam, is the deadliest on civilians in India since the 2008 Mumbai attacks that claimed over 160 lives.

The assailants opened fire in a remote meadow area, claiming the lives of 25 Indian nationals and one citizen of Nepal. The incident has cast a shadow over the region, which has seen a tourism revival in recent years due to a relative decline in insurgent violence.

A militant outfit calling itself the "Kashmir Resistance" claimed responsibility via a social media post, condemning what it called the forced resettlement of more than 85,000 "outsiders" in the region. The group alleged these demographic changes had fueled the attack.

The fallout was swift. Prime Minister Narendra Modi ended his official visit to Saudi Arabia early, returning to New Delhi on Wednesday morning. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also cut short her overseas engagements in the U.S. and Peru, stating she wished to stand with the nation during this “tragic and difficult time.”

The attack has sparked widespread outrage. Over a dozen local groups called for a shutdown across Jammu and Kashmir to protest the violence. Many schools remained closed in solidarity, and with panic spreading among tourists, airlines operated additional flights out of Srinagar to accommodate the mass exodus.

The Kashmir region, claimed in full by both India and Pakistan, has been plagued by insurgency since 1989. Although militant violence has declined in recent years, tensions persist. In 2019, India revoked the region’s special constitutional status and reorganized it into two federally governed territories—Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. That decision, which allowed outsiders to settle and acquire land locally, deepened hostilities with Pakistan and further inflamed regional tensions.

While militant violence against security forces has remained a concern, attacks directly targeting tourists have been rare. The last such tragedy occurred in June 2024 when a militant assault caused a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims to crash, killing at least nine and injuring 33.

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