India's foreign minister announced that the country would shut the main land crossing with Pakistan, a day after a terrorist attack claimed at least 26 lives in Kashmir.
India's top career diplomat Vikram Misri told reporters in New Delhi that the border crossing at Attari-Wagah border "will be closed with immediate effect," adding that those with valid travel documents may return before May 1.
India on Wednesday suspended a water-sharing treaty with rival Pakistan, indicating it was blaming its neighbor for the previous day's attack by gunmen that killed 26 people in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
Misri announced the move at a news conference in New Delhi after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a special security cabinet meeting late Wednesday. Misri said India was suspending the Indus Water Treaty "until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism."
India blames Pakistan for the attack, but Pakistan strongly denies the allegation, and many Kashmiris consider the militants to be part of a home-grown freedom struggle.
Kashmir Resistance, a previously unknown militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack on social media. The group said Indian authorities had settled over 85,000 "outsiders" in the region and claimed that those targeted on Tuesday were not "ordinary tourists" but "were linked to and affiliated with Indian security agencies."
The group's messages could not be independently verified.
Earlier this month, the local government told its legislature that 83,742 Indians were granted rights to buy land and property in Kashmir in the last two years.
Officials said 24 of the people killed were Indian tourists. One was from Nepal, and another was a local tourist guide. At least 17 others were wounded.
Pakistan extended condolences to the victims' families.
"We are concerned at the loss of tourists' lives," Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement while wishing the wounded a speedy recovery.
New Delhi has vigorously pushed tourism, and the region has drawn millions of visitors to its Himalayan foothills. Indian officials have claimed that as a sign of normalcy returning, despite the presence of ubiquitous security checkpoints, armored vehicles and patrolling soldiers. Until Tuesday, tourists were not targeted.
Following the attack, panicked tourists started to leave Kashmir.
Monojit Debnath, from the Indian city of Kolkata, said Kashmir was beautiful, but his family did not feel secure anymore.
"We are tourists, and we should think about what safety we have here for us," Debnath told the Press Trust of India news agency as he was leaving Srinagar, the region's main city, with his family.
"It's heartbreaking to see the exodus of our guests from the valley after yesterday's tragic terror attack," Omar Abdullah, the region's top elected official, wrote on social media. "But at the same time, we totally understand why people would want to leave."
