India vows ‘loud and clear’ response after 26 tourists killed in IIOJK attack

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The Indian Defense Minister on Wednesday vowed to a sharp response to those who planned to carry out and plan the IIOJK of Jammu and Kashmir, who occupied the Indian illegally, and the security forces launched a massive hunt for the attackers.

The firing also injured at least 17 people, who took place on Tuesday in the Pahlagam area, the Himalayan area, in the Federal Territory in the Himalayas. The dead included 25 Indians and a Nepalese citizen, police said.

It was the worst attack on the citizens since the 2008 Mumbai shootings, and there was peace on a relative in the IOJK, where tourism has intensified in recent years as India’s insurgency has ended in recent years.

The attack is seen as a shock that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ..

Modi reduced his two -day visit to Saudi Arabia and returned to New Delhi on Wednesday morning. His ministry said that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharman was also “diminishing to stay with our people in this difficult and tragic time”.

Modi held a meeting with National Security Advisor, Foreign Minister and other senior officials at the airport and a special security cabinet meeting was convened for 1230 GMT, a Defense Ministry official said.

Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said before the meeting, “We will not only reach the people who have committed the incident, but also those who are sitting behind the scenes, plot to commit such actions on the Indian soil.”

“Soon there will be a sharp and clear answer for a former Indian Air Force chief,” he said in a memorable lecture.

Victims of attackers

Two security sources told Reuters that security forces were immediately attacked. Later he reached the Pahalgam area and started combing the forests there, two security sources told Reuters. He added that in the past, the rebel sympathizers are suspected that about 100 people were called to the police stations and were questioned.

Police also released sketches of three of the four suspected attackers, dressed in traditional long shirts and loose pants, a security source said. He said there were about 1,000 tourists in the valley and about 300 local services and workers when the attack took place.

A small famous group, “Kashmir Resistance”, claimed responsibility for the attack in a social media message. He expressed dissatisfaction that more than 85,000 “external” region had settled in the region, which created “population change”.

“We are worried about the loss of tourists’ lives,” Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan said in a statement. “We condole with the people near the deceased and wish to recover the injured.”

Kashmir shut down

On Wednesday, more than a dozen local organizations demanded the closure of the occupied area to protest against the attack on tourists, whose increasing numbers have helped the local economy.

Many schools also suspended classes for the day in protest.

It was closed and protesters came out in several places such as “Stop killing innocents”, “tourists are our lives”, “This is an attack on us”.

“I want to say to the people of the country that we are ashamed, Kashmir is ashamed,” former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mahbooba Mufti, said in a statement. “We stand with you at this time of crisis.”

Airlines rated additional flights from Srinagar, the capital of the area, as visitors were leaving the region, officials said.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on the X, “It is heartbreaking to see the emergence of our guests,” he said, adding that the main highway connecting Srinagar from the rest of the country, which was damaged by heavy rain, was opened out of Srinagar to help the tourists coming from the road.

While some local tourist operators said they were already receiving cancellation for the coming summer season, the local unit of the Travel Agents Federation of India condemned the attack.

Trump provides full support to India

US President Donald Trump offered Modi “providing full support for justice to those who committed this abominable attack”.

While condemning the attack in foreign leaders and offering help, EU Chief Ursula Van Der Leene promised that “Europe will stand with you”.

An estimated 500,000 troops are permanently deployed in the area. In recent years, authorities have promoted the mountainous region as a holiday destination, both for winter skiing, and to avoid summer heat somewhere in India.

In 2024, about 3.5 million tourists visited Kashmir, mostly domestic pilgrims.

The worst attack in recent years took place in Paloma in February 2019, when rebels trapped a car -filled car in a police convoy, killing 40 and injuring at least 35 others.

India canceled the special status of IIOJK in 2019, which divided the state into two Federally Administered Territories – Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

The move allowed local authorities to issue domicile rights to the foreigners, which allow them to get jobs and buy land in the disputed Himalayan area. As a result, relations with Pakistan deteriorated. The conflict has promoted bitter enmity and military conflict between nuclear armed neighbors.

Tourist targets in iiojk have been very few. The last deadly incident took place in June 2024 when at least nine people were killed and 33 were injured after the attack, which left a Hindu pilgrimage in a deep valley on a bus.