India PM Modi summons ministers after worst Kashmir attack in years kills 26 (2025)

SRINAGAR, India – Gunmen killed as many as 26 people in Indian-administered Kashmir, one of the worst attacks in years on civilians in the region, prompting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to cut short his trip to Saudi Arabia and summon an urgent meeting with his top ministers.

At least 17 people were also injured in the attack, when suspected militants opened fire at tourists in India’s Jammu and Kashmir territory, thepolice said on April 23.

It was the worst attack on civilians in India since the 2008 Mumbai shootings in which more than 160 people were killed. The latest attack shattered the relative calm in Kashmir, where tourism has boomed as an anti-India insurgency has waned in recent years.

The attack took place on April 22 in the Pahalgam area, a popular tourist destination in the scenic Himalayan federal territory and about 90km east of Srinagar

Visitor arrivals hit a record high of more than three million in 2024, from fewer than 831,000 in 2018, as India’s growing middle class splurged on travel post-Covid-19, government data showed.

The attack occurred in an off-the-road meadow and the dead included 25 Indians and one Nepalese national, thepolice said.

The gunmen fired indiscriminately at tourists, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.

“The firing happened in front of us,” one witness told broadcaster India Today, without giving his name. “We thought someone was setting off firecrackers, but when we heard other people (screaming), we quickly got out of there... saved our lives and ran.”

“For 4km, we did not stop... I am shaking,” another witness told India Today.

The attack is seen as a setback to what Mr Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party have projected as a major achievement in revoking the semi-autonomous status Jammu and Kashmir enjoyed, and bringing peace and development to the long-troubled Muslim-majority region.

The Indian Army and thepolice have started a search operation to locate the attackers.

A little-known militant group, the Kashmir Resistance, claimed responsibility for the attack in a social media message.It expressed discontent that more than 85,000 “outsiders” had been settled in the region, spurring a “demographic change”.

On April 23, over a dozen local organisations called for a shutdown in the territory to protest against the attack on tourists, whose rising numbers have helped the local economy.

Many schools also suspended classes for the day in protest.

Mr Modi returned to India, cutting short his two-day trip to Saudi Arabia, where he had earlier met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The Indian Prime Minister condemned the attack and said those behind the act “will be brought to justice”.

He held a meeting with India’sNational Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar at the airport upon his arrival, PTI reported, citing officials it did notname.

Mr Modi was scheduled to chair a meeting of the Cabinet Committee of Security – India’s top security body comprising the defence, foreign, home and finance ministers – on April 23, during which the nation was expected to discuss how to react to the attack.

As desperate tourists tried to flee Kashmir, flight ticket prices briefly rose sharply before India’sgovernment met airline operators and “issued a strong advisory against surge pricing”.

“In the aftermath of the incident in Pahalgam, there is an unexpected demand from tourists seeking to return to their homes,” India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation said in an advisory to all airlines. “Airlines are advised to take swift action to increase the number of flights,” it added.

The Himalayan region of Jammu and Kashmir is heavily fortified, with hundreds of thousands of troops deployed.

The region is claimed in full by India and Pakistan but ruled in part by the two countries and is a source of constant friction between the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours.

While the region continues to see sporadic militant strikes, attacks on tourists are relatively rare. The last big assault occurred in February 2019 in Pulwama, when a suicide bomber killed 40 members of India’s security forces. Jaish-e-Mohammed (Soldiers of Mohammed), a Pakistan-based militant group, claimed responsibility at the time, prompting India to respond with its first air strikes on Pakistani soil since 1971, and resulting in an aerial dogfight.

The latest attack on April 22 came during US Vice-President J.D. Vance’s four-day visit to India, where he met Mr Modi in New Delhi on April 21 and was in Jaipur on April 22 before heading to Agra on April 23 for a stop at the Taj Mahal.

Mr Vance described the attack as “horrific” in a post on X, while USPresident Donald Trump pledged the US’ “full support and deepest sympathies” to Mr Modi and the Indian people. According to Indian government officials, Mr Trump also called MrModi and again offered to stand with the country in its fight against terrorism.

Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said on April 23 it is “concerned at the loss of tourists’ lives” in the attack and extended condolences to the loved ones of the victims.

Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told a local television channel the country has no link to the attack and does not support terrorism in any form.

Mr Rahul Gandhi, India’s main opposition leader, said the country is united against terrorism and called on the government to take concrete steps to prevent such incidents rather than making hollow claims about security in the region.

Although attacks by separatist militants in Jammu and Kashmir, which borders Pakistan, are not unusual, the targeting of tourists was rare. The scenic town of Pahalgam – also known as “mini Switzerland” –is popular among tourists for its hills and meadows.

The region’s chief minister Omar Abdullah said the attack was “much larger than anything we’ve seen directed at civilians in recent years”, according to a post on X.REUTERS, BLOOMBERG

JoinST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.