India vows 'loud and clear' response to Kashmir attack
- Last updated: April 23, 2025 | 18:09
Pakistan on Wednesday said it was “concerned at the loss of tourists’ lives” as 26 people were killed when gunmen opened fire on visitors in a popular destination in Jammu and Kashmir a day ago, prompting the Indian government to vow that a “loud and clear” response would be delivered to the attack.
India's defence minister vowed a swift response to those who carried out and planned the Kashmir region's worst attack on civilians in years.
"Those responsible and behind such an act will very soon hear our response, loud and clear," Rajnath Singh said in a speech in New Delhi, a day after gunmen killed 26 men at a tourist hotspot in the contested Himalayan region.
"We won't just reach those people who carried out the attack. We will also reach out to those who planned this from behind the scenes on our land."
Singh did not identify those he believes are responsible for the killings, but said that "India's government will take every step that may be necessary and appropriate".
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack in the Muslim-majority region.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged that those responsible for the "heinous act" will "be brought to justice."
Modi is set to hold an emergency cabinet meeting with top security chiefs later on Wednesday.
"Their evil agenda will never succeed," Modi said in a statement shortly after the attack. "Our resolve to fight terrorism is unshakable and it will get even stronger."
Pakistan's foreign ministry on Wednesday offered its "condolences to the near ones of the deceased."
ammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the attack had been "much larger than anything we've seen directed at civilians" in recent years.
A hospital list verified by police recorded 26 men who were killed on Tuesday afternoon when gunmen burst out of forests at a popular tourist spot in Pahalgam and raked crowds of visitors with automatic weapons.
All those killed were listed as residents of India except one man from Nepal.
In a separate incident in Kashmir at Baramulla on Wednesday, the army killed two people after a "heavy exchange of fire."
AFP journalists near the site of the Pahalgam attack reported a heavy deployment of security forces.
Pahalgam is popular with tourists in summer and is about 90 kilometres by road from the city of Srinagar.
Smears of blood could still be seen on the grass where the killings took place as forensic investigators searched for evidence.
A tour guide told AFP he had carried some of the wounded away on horseback.
Waheed, who gave only one name, said he saw several men lying dead on the ground, while a witness who requested anonymity said the attackers were "clearly sparing women".
US President Donald Trump called Modi to offer "full support to India to bring to justice the perpetrators of this heinous attack".
China, which neighbours the troubled region, offered its "sincere sympathies" to the families of those killed.
India has an estimated 500,000 soldiers permanently deployed in the territory but fighting has eased since Modi's government revoked Kashmir's limited autonomy in 2019.
Authorities in recent years have promoted the mountainous region as a holiday destination, both for skiing in winter and to escape the sweltering summer heat elsewhere in India.
Around 3.5 million tourists visited Kashmir in 2024, mostly domestic visitors.
The worst attack in recent years was in Pulwama in February 2019 when insurgents rammed a car packed with explosives into a police convoy, killing 40 and wounding at least 35 others.
Agence France-Presse