SRINAGAR, India: At least five tourists were feared dead and eight people injured after suspected militants opened fire at them in India’s Kashmir region on Tuesday ( Apr 22 ), a police source told Reuters, in the worst such attack in the territory in nearly a year.
The attack took place in Pahalgam, a common place in the spectacular Muslim-majority place, that draws thousands of visitors every summers as violent crime has reduced in recent years.
The injured had been rushed to a nearby hospital, the source said on the condition of anonymity as they are not authorised to speak to the media.
American TV channels reported earlier that one person was killed and seven injured in the assault.
The Himalayan area, which is claimed in total but ruled in piece by both India and Pakistan, has been roiled by violent crime since the start of an anti-Indian insurrection in 1989. Tens of thousands of people have been killed, although murder has tapered off in recent years.
Problems targeting tourists in Kashmir have been rare in recent years, but never unknown.
The next major assault on visitors in the national place took place in June, when at least nine people were killed and 33 injured when a vehicle carrying Hindu pilgrims plunged into a deep valley after militants attacked it.
India revoked Kashmir’s unique position in 2019, splitting the condition into two officially administered territories- Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The shift led to a lowering of ties with Pakistan, which also claims the area.