At least 20 people were feared killed after gunmen opened fire on tourists in the Indian-administered Kashmir region on Tuesday, media reports said, citing security sources, in what is seen as the worst attack on civilians in the troubled Himalayan region for years.
One security source put the death toll at 20, while the second put it at 24 and the third at 26. All three spoke on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media, a Reuters report said.
A senior police officer told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that at least 24 people lost their lives.
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi decried the "heinous act" in the summer retreat of Pahalgam, pledging that the attackers "will be brought to justice."
A tour guide told AFP he reached the scene after hearing gunfire and transported some of the wounded away on horseback.
"I saw a few men lying on the ground looking like they were dead," said Waheed, who gave only one name.
The attack targeted tourists in Pahalgam, which lies about 90 kilometres (55 miles) by road from the key city of Srinagar.
The senior police officer in the region, speaking on condition of anonymity, described a massacre in which at least 24 people had been killed.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Muslim-majority region has been plagued by crisis for decades amid the dispute between India and Pakistan. Jammu and Kashmir had been the only Muslim-majority state in mainly Hindu India.
They are seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan, which controls a smaller part of the Kashmir region and, like India, claims it in full.
"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."
The killings come a day after Modi met with U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who is on a four-day tour of India.
"The death toll is still being ascertained so I don't want to get into those details," Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said in a post on X.
"Needless to say, this attack is much larger than anything we've seen directed at civilians in recent years."
The nationalities of the victims were not immediately known.
India's interior minister, Amit Shah said he was flying to the site of the attack.
"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," Shah said in a statement.
Medics at a hospital in Anantnag said they had received some of the wounded, including at least two with gunshot wounds, one with a bullet injury to the neck.
Rahul Gandhi, leader of India's main opposition Congress party, called the killings "heartbreaking."
"The whole country is united against terrorism," he said in a statement, urging the federal government to "take accountability."
India has an estimated 500,000 soldiers permanently deployed in the territory, but fighting has decreased since Modi's government revoked Kashmir's limited autonomy in 2019.
"Their evil agenda will never succeed. Our resolve to fight terrorism is unshakable and it will get even stronger," Modi said in a statement following the attack.
In recent years, the authorities have heavily promoted the mountainous region as a holiday destination, both for skiing during the winter months and to escape the sweltering heat during the summer elsewhere in India.
Around 3.5 million tourists visited Kashmir in 2024, according to official figures, the majority domestic visitors.
In 2023, India hosted a G-20 tourism meeting in Srinagar under tight security in a bid to show that what officials call "normalcy and peace" were returning after a massive crackdown.
A string of resorts is being developed, including some close to the heavily militarized de facto border that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
India regularly blames Pakistan for backing gunmen behind the insurgency.
Islamabad denies the allegation, saying it only supports Kashmir's struggle for self-determination.
The worst attack in recent years took place 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.
The deadliest recent attack on civilians was in March 2000, when 36 people, all Indian civilians, were killed.
