Srinagar: As many as five tourists may have been killed in the deadly terror attack in Pahalgam on Tuesday afternoon, according to Reuters. Eight others have been hospitalized with gunshot injuries.
While The Resistance Front (TRF), a front of Pakistani-based terror outfit Lashkar-Taiba, has claimed responsibility for the attack, Union home minister Amit Shah will be traveling to Srinagar on Tuesday evening to monitor the situation. He held an emergency security meeting immediately after the attack in New Delhi, following which Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked him to visit Pahalgam personally.
“Anguished by the terror attack on tourists in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. My thoughts are with the family members of the deceased. 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. Briefed PM Modi about the incident and held a meeting with the concerned officials via video conferencing. Will shortly leave for Srinagar to hold an urgent security review meeting with all the agencies,” Shah said in a post on X.
Survivors, meanwhile, narrated their gruesome experiences. One claimed that the terrorists pulled down the trousers of male tourists to ascertain their religion before shooting them.
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah also returned to Srinagar during the day.
“I’m shocked beyond belief. This attack on our visitors is an abomination. The perpetrators of this attack are animals, inhuman & worthy of contempt. No words of condemnation are enough. I send my sympathies to the families of the deceased. I have spoken to my colleague @sakinaitoo and she has moved to the hospital to oversee arrangements for the injured,” Abdullah posted.
Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference chief Sajjad Lone also came down hard on the terrorists.
“Their war is against the hospitality of the Kashmiris. They want tourists to leave Kashmir and that Kashmiris have no source of livelihood. They are enemies of our kids and the coming generations. They are terrorists. Targeting unarmed tourists is the biggest sin. They will neither be forgiven here, nor in the eyes of God,” he said.
Meanwhile, videos have already started pouring in of tourists leaving Pahalgam.
