Multiple deaths feared as gunmen fire on tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir

Belfast Telegraph - 16:59
Multiple deaths are feared after gunmen indiscriminately fired at tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Tuesday, officials said, with police calling it a “terror attack” and blaming militants fighting against Indian rule.

“This attack is much larger than anything we’ve seen directed at civilians in recent years,” Omar Abdullah, the region’s top elected official, wrote on social media.

“The death toll is still being ascertained so I don’t want to get into those details,” he said.

Paramedics carry a wounded tourist on a stretcher at a hospital in Anantnag (Dar Yasin/AP)

Initial reports said gunmen sprayed bullets at mostly Indian tourists visiting Baisaran meadow, some three miles (5km) from the disputed region’s resort town of Pahalgam.Police said multiple tourists had gunshot wounds, and officials were evacuating them to hospitals.

Police and soldiers cordoned off the area and launched a hunt for the attackers.

India’s home minister Amit Shah headed to Srinagar, the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir, where he said he would review the situation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who wa...
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