Dozens killed as gunmen massacre tourists in Kashmir beauty spot

Source: CNN

World Asia
Dozens killed as gunmen massacre tourists in Kashmir beauty spot

By Esha Mitra, Mukhtar Ahmad, Aishwarya S Iyer, Kara Fox and Jessie Yeung, CNN
7 minute read
Updated 3:47 AM EDT, Wed April 23, 2025


An ambulance carrying the bodies of tourists killed in a suspected militant attack near Pahalgam, in Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir, arrive at the police control room in Srinagar on April 23, 2025. Reuters

(CNN) — Gunmen killed at least 26 people and injured a dozen others in the disputed Himalayan region of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, a rare assault on tourists in an area fraught by decades of insurgency and opposition to India’s rule.

The devastating massacre targeted sightseers in a popular tourist destination in Pahalgam, in the mountainous Anantnag district, and is the region’s worst assault on civilians in years. Most of the 26 people killed are understood to be travelers.

Among the victims was a Nepali national, and another person of “Indian origin who works in the Middle East,” V K Birdi, inspector general of police in Kashmir, told CNN.

He added that the attack took place in a part of the Baisaran Valley – which is only accessible by foot or on horseback. The assault unfolded in a meadow, with mountainous ridges nearby, that stretched several miles without any car roads, he said.

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Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/22/asia/gunmen-open-fire-jammu-kashmir-intl/index.html