At least twenty people are feared dead after gunmen opened fire at a beauty spot in Indian-controlled Kashmir, officials have said.
Police described the shooting near the resort town of Pahalgam on Tuesday as a “terror attack” and blamed it on militants fighting Indian rule.
Omar Abdullah, the region’s main elected official, said: “This attack is much larger than anything we’ve seen directed at civilians in recent years.
“The death toll is still being ascertained.”
Earlier, a police source told Reuters at least five people were feared killed, with eight injured.
Officers said multiple tourists suffered gunshot wounds and officials had taken the injured to hospitals.
A manhunt for the attackers has been launched.
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Initial reports said gunmen fired bullets at mostly Indian tourists visiting Baisaran meadow, about three miles (5km) from Pahalgam.
Hundreds of tourists flock to the site – a top sightseeing destination surrounded by snow-capped mountains – every day.
Amit Shah, India’s home affairs minister, said he was “anguished by the terror attack”.
He added on X: “Those involved in this dastardly act of terror will not be spared, and we will come down heavily on the perpetrators with the harshest consequences.”
Mr Shah said he had briefed prime minister Narendra Modi and was heading to Srinagar, the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir, for an “urgent security review meeting with all the agencies”.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a key Kashmiri resistance leader, condemned what he described as a “cowardly attack on tourists”.
He added on X: “Such violence is unacceptable and against the ethos of Kashmir which welcomes visitors with love and warmth. Condemn it strongly.”
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Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety.
Militants in the Indian-controlled portion have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989.
Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.
