2. After visiting the Taj Mahal, US Vice-President JD Vance spoke to reporters about Tuesday’s attack.
3. “We’re providing whatever assistance and help we can provide,” Vance said, adding that he would be speaking to Prime Minister Modi later on Wednesday.
4. Media caption,
5. JD Vance offers condolences, calls the attack ‘terrible’
8. Image source, Information department, Agra
9. We have already reported that the attack took place while US Vice-President JD Vance has been touring India.
10. Vance and his wife Usha have condemned the attacks.
11. On Wednesday, Vance visited the iconic Taj Mahal in the northern Agra city with his family where they posed for a photograph in front of the monument.
14. Kamal Saini
15. BBC Punjabi, reporting from Karnal
16. Image source, Kamal Saini/BBC
17. Image caption,
18. Vinay Narwal married just last week
19. Vinay Narwal, a 26-year-old Indian Navy officer, was on his honeymoon in Pahalgam when he was killed. He had married just last week, on 16 April.
20. A photo of Vinay’s wife Himanshi, sitting near her husband’s body, has been widely shared on social media after the attack.
21. “He wanted to go to Switzerland for his honeymoon but did not get a visa,” says his grandfather Hawa Singh Narwal.
22. ‘‘Had he not been shot, he might have managed to handle two or three people,” his grandfather says. “He was a strong man.”
23. Hawa Singh Narwal says he wants “exemplary punishment” for the killers of his grandson.
24. “This terrorism should end. Today, I lost my grandson. Tomorrow, someone else will lose their loved one.”
27. Image source, Amit Shah/X
28. Federal Home Minister Amit Shah paid his last respects to those killed in the Pahalgam terror attack and met some of the survivors on Wednesday.
29. Shah said the pain of losing loved ones “could not be expressed in words”, while assuring families that the attackers “would not be spared”.
30. Photos shared on Shah’s X page showed him meeting survivors and laying wreaths on the coffins of the victims.
31. “Bharat [India] will not bend to terror,” he wrote on X. “The culprits of this dastardly terror attack will not be spared.”
32. A video posted by news agency ANI showed some survivors bursting into tears as they met Shah.
35. Soutik Biswas
36. India Correspondent
37. The attack on tourists in Pahalgam comes at a time of high diplomatic visibility, coinciding with the visit of US Vice-President JD Vance to India.
38. This is not the first time militancy in Kashmir has overlapped with key US visits.
39. On 20 March, 2000 – just a day before then US president Bill Clinton arrived in India – 36 Sikh villagers were massacred in Chittisinghpora in Anantnag, allegedly by Pakistan-based militants.
40. The attack cast a dark shadow over Clinton’s visit, prompting then prime minister AB Vajpayee to raise Pakistan’s role directly with him.
41. Two years later, on 14 May 2002, during the then US Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca’s visit, militants struck again – this time in Kaluchak.
42. Armed men opened fire on a civilian bus and then attacked army family quarters, killing 23 people, including 10 children, and injuring 34 others.
43. These attacks, coinciding with high-level US engagements, reflect how militant groups in the region have used moments of international spotlight to send signals – testing both India’s security response and the resilience of its diplomatic partnerships.
46. Ashok Dahal
47. BBC Nepali
48. The Nepalese embassy in Delhi has confirmed the death of one of its citizens in the attack.
49. The deceased was a resident of Butwal in western Nepal and had gone to Kashmir with his family for a holiday, the embassy said.
50. Relatives confirmed the deceased was a student named Sudip Neupane.
51. “Sudip had gone with his mother, sister and brother-in-law to India. The remaining three are said to be safe,” Dadhiram Neupane, the victim’s uncle who is travelling from Butwal to the capital, Kathmandu, to receive his nephew’s body, said.
52. Surendra Thapa, deputy chief of mission at the Nepal Embassy in Delhi, said: “His mother also sustained injuries during their escape, but she is in a stable condition.”
53. Earlier on Wednesday, Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli had condemned the attack and pledged to stand with India in the “fight against terrorism”.
56. The BBC’s Yogita Limaye reports from the ground as victims’ bodies are transported from the police control room to the airport in Srinagar, the region’s main city.
57. Media caption,
58. Special flights will take victims’ bodies back home
61. Azadeh Moshiri
62. Reporting from Islamabad
63. Image source, Getty Images
64. Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has denied that his country had any role in the Pahalgam killings.
65. Describing these as homegrown insurgencies against the Indian government, he said it was “easy” to blame Pakistan for the attack.
66. Asif instead accused India of interfering in Pakistan’s affairs, which Delhi has firmly denied in the past.
67. Kashmir, which is claimed by both India and Pakistan, has seen a decades-long insurgency against Indian rule, which Delhi accuses Islamabad of helping to fund and support. Pakistan denies the charge.
70. Yogita Limaye
71. South Asia & Afghanistan correspondent
72. 
73. Traders in Kashmir have condemned the killings and are holding protests against it in the Lal Chowk area, the nerve centre of the region’s capital, Srinagar.
74. The protesters waved black flags and placards saying, “no to terrorism” and “stop killing innocents”. Referring to visiting tourists, they chanted, “end the killings of our guests”.
77. Nikhil Inamdar
78. Reporting from London
79. Tuesday’s brutal attack in Pahalgam comes just as the peak travel season in Kashmir is about to begin, and it could cripple the state’s tourism economy
80. Abhishek Sansare from Abhishek Holidays, a Mumbai-based agency that arranges group tours, told the BBC there was “panic” among some visitors who were already in the capital, Srinagar, and “fear and anger” among those slated to go later in the year.
81. “We’re getting many cancellation requests,” he said.
82. Airlines have added extra flights to Srinagar to support the rush of tourists wanting to return home.
83. Jammu and Kashmir has seen a massive surge in tourist arrivals after the state was stripped off its autonomous status in 2019, with over 23 million people visiting last year.
84. Prime Minister Modi announced a slew of projects worth 64bn rupees ($748m; £562m) to support local agriculture and tourism in a pre-election trip to the state last year.
85. A railway line connecting the Kashmir valley with the rest of the country is slated to be inaugurated by Modi later this year.
86. Image source, Getty Images
87. Image caption,
88. Kashmir’s economy depends on tourism
91. Pahalgam, a scenic town in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Anantnag district, plays a crucial role in one of Hinduism’s most revered religious events.
92. Pilgrims use the town as a base camp before starting their 32km (20 miles) journey on foot or on horses through the mountainous terrain to reach the Amarnath cave temple, which is dedicated to Hindu god Shiva.
93. This is one of several routes that pilgrims take for what is known as the annual Amarnath Yatra. The attack has come just months before the 39-day yatra gets under way on 3 July.
94. Although Tuesday’s targeting of tourists is rare, the pilgrimage route has been targeted before as well. At least 32 people were killed when the Nuwan base camp was attacked in 2000, and 11 died in an attack at Chandanwari base camp in 2002. In 2017, at least eight people died in Kulgam when a bus carrying pilgrims came under attack.
95. Image source, Getty Images
98. Cherylann Mollan
99. Reporting from Mumbai
100. Image source, Siddharth Bakaria
101. Image caption,
102. Siddharth Bakaria, the founder of Go Jammu and Kashmir travel agency
103. Travel agency operators, tour guides and others who depend on tourism for their livelihoods fear their businesses will be hit badly.
104. Siddharth Bakaria, who runs a travel agency, Go Jammu and Kashmir, says people have been cancelling their upcoming trips.
105. “We’ve received about 270 cancellation requests so far,” Mr Bakaria said, adding that this would amount to a loss of about 40m rupees ($468,000; £350,000).
106. He also said that some of the clients calling to cancel their bookings had expressed anger towards “people like him” – meaning Kashmiris – seeming to hold them responsible for the attack. However, locals have condemned the killings and there have been several protests in the region since last evening.
107. A woman who handles bookings at three hotels in Pahalgam told the BBC on condition of anonymity that she too has been receiving dozens of cancellation requests, something that’s never happened before.
108. “People are scared now; they don’t want to visit Kashmir,” she said.
109. Ummer Shafi Wani, a taxi operator in Pahalgam, said tourists were rushing to leave the region. Around 700 local taxis were taking people to their homes and the airport since the attack, he said.
110. “The attack has completely destroyed our businesses. We depend on tourism for our livelihood and there’s fear [among drivers] that we may not be able to bounce back after this incident,” Mr Wani said.
113. Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah has said it is heartbreaking to “see the exodus of our guests” from the valley, after Tuesday’s tragic attack but he understands “why people would want to leave”.
114. India’s civil aviation authorities said there was “unexpected demand from tourists seeking to return to their homes” and they had asked airlines to take swift action to increase the number of flights in response to heightened demand and wave off cancellation and rescheduling fees.
115. Abdullah said the government was working to organise extra flights and authorities were also allowing tourist vehicles to leave by road.
116. But permitting completely free movement was proving difficult because the road was unstable in places and officials were working hard to clear all the stranded vehicles, he said.
119. Pinaki Chakraborty
120. Reporting from Delhi
121. Front pages of leading newspapers in Indian-administered Kashmir have published black front pages following the attack in Pahalgam.
122. English and Urdu dailies, including Greater Kashmir, Rising Kashmir, Kashmir Uzma and Taimeel-I-Irshad, had a sombre black background with headlines and editorials printed in red and white.
123. 
126. If you’re just joining us, here’s a quick look at what’s happened so far:

• Twenty-six people were killed after gunmen opened fire on tourists visiting Pahalgam, a popular destination in Indian-administered Kashmir
• The attack took place in a meadow which is only accessible by foot or on horseback
• Among those killed were a naval officer on his honeymoon, a tech worker, an intelligence officer and a local tour guide
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has cut short his visit to Saudi Arabia and returned to India
• The region’s Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, said the “attack is much larger than anything we’ve seen directed at civilians in recent years”.
• Kashmir is seeing protest marches against the killings amid a shutdown in the region on Wednesday
• Security has been heightened with a large deployment of security forces
• Tourists have rarely been targeted in the decades-long history of region’s conflict

3. Eyewitnesses recount the horrific moment when gunmen opened fire, forcing them to run for their lives. “If we had not left the spot in time, we wouldn’t be alive,” one survivor told BBC Hindi.
4. Media caption,
5. ‘Run quickly, we are under attack’: What eyewitnesses saw
8. We are getting pictures of former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti leading a protest march against the killings in Pahalgam.
9. She had earlier supported calls for a shutdown as a mark of respect for the lives lost in the attack.
10. “A thorough investigation is needed to bring the perpetrators to justice and examine potential security lapses. Ensuring visitor safety is paramount and steps must be taken to prevent future attacks,” Mufti wrote on X.
11. 
12. 
15. Majid Jehangir
16. BBC Hindi, reporting from Pahalgam
17. Image source, Getty Images
18. In the Langan Bal area, a few kilometres from Pahalgam, the atmosphere is tense, with a large deployment of security forces.
19. On the way to Pahalgam, I was stopped three times by local police personnel who didn’t allow me to move towards the site of the attack.
20. In Pahalgam, the main market is shut.
21. Javed Ahmed, a hotelier in the region, is shocked at the “gruesome, inhuman” attack and says it’s bad news for ordinary Kashmiris and the region’s tourism industry.
22. Ahmed’s hotel had been sold out until June but he now fears the attack could lead to cancellation of reservations and impact his business.
23. A local shawl vendor, who has been running his business for over three decades, expressed “deep anger” over the attack.
24. The lone breadwinner for his family, he said “whenever tourism peaks in Kashmir, something bad happens”.
27. Pinaki Chakraborty
28. Reporting from Delhi
29. Pahalgam is a hill station in the southern part of Indian-administered Kashmir. Located about 90km [56 miles] from the airport in the region’s main city Srinagar, the town is a major tourist centre and accounts for a bulk of tourist footfall in the state.
30. It is around 200km from the Line of Control, the de facto border that divides the disputed region of Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
31. The state government recently announced that more than 23 million tourists visited the state in 2024 – a huge chunk of them are believed to have visited the scenic town.
32. The town and its surrounding areas are known for their lush green meadows and stunning natural beauty and are a favourite with India filmmakers.
33. Pahalgam also serves as the base camp for the annual Hindu pilgrimage to the Amarnath cave offering the pilgrims essential facilities like accommodation, medical support and transportation for the arduous trek ahead.
36. Indian Home Minister Amit Shah has arrived at the site of the attacks in Pahalgam. Shah had travelled to Srinagar, Kashmir’s largest city, on Tuesday evening to hold an emergency security meeting.
37. Media caption,
38. Indian Home Minister Amit Shah reaches attack site

Page 2

2. People in Anantnag and Baramulla held a candlelight vigil on Tuesday night to condemn the violence and demand justice for the victims.
3. Media caption,
4. Locals in Indian-administered Kashmir hold protest against attack
7. We’re now getting fresh visuals from Srinagar – Kashmir’s largest city – where Home Minister Amit Shah has just paid tribute to the victims of yesterday’s attack.
8. Shah, who arrived in Srinagar on Tuesday evening, is expected to travel to Pahalgam later today.
9. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has cut short his visit to Saudi Arabia and returned to Delhi where he held a brief meeting to take stock of the situation.
10. Image source, ANI
13. We are hearing from the Indian Army, which says that it has foiled an infiltration bid by suspected militants in Kashmir’s Baramulla district. Two of the militants have been killed in an exchange of gunfire, it adds.
14. Baramulla is around 140km (87 miles) away from Pahalgam, the site of Tuesday’s attack.
15. The army said the infiltration bid took place close to the Line of Control, the de facto border that divides the disputed region of Kashmir.
16. In a post on X, the army’s Chinar Corps – which operates in the Kashmir valley – said there had been a heavy exchange of fire between security forces and suspected militants in an ongoing operation in the region.
17. It also said that a “large quantity of weapons, ammunition and other war-like stores” had been recovered from them.
20. Global leaders have expressed condemnation for the attack on civilians in Pahalgam.
21. UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres offered his condolences to the victims’ families.
22. “Attacks against civilians are unacceptable under any circumstances,” he said.
23. US president Donald Trump said he had already spoken with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the attack.
24. Image source, Getty Images
25. Image caption,
26. US President Donald Trump spoke to PM Modi after the attack

Quote Message

Deeply disturbing news out of Kashmir. The United States stands strong with India against Terrorism. We pray for the souls of those lost, and for the recovery of the injured. Prime Minister Modi, and the incredible people of India, have our full support and deepest sympathies.

Donald Trump, US president

1. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also expressed her sympathies and said that she was “deeply saddened” by the news.
2. “Italy expresses its closeness to the families affected, the injured, the Government and all the Indian people,” she wrote in a post on X.
3. UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the attack was “utterly devastating”.

Quote Message

My thoughts are with those affected, their loved ones, and the people of India.

Sir Keir Starmer, UK prime minister

1. UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also condemned the attack and said it permanently rejected “all forms of violence and terrorism aimed at undermining security and stability in contravention of international law”.
4. Riyaz Masroor
5. BBC Urdu
6. Businesses and educational institutions across Kashmir are shut in protest against the attack that killed more than 20 people on Tuesday. Public transport facilities have also been affected.
7. Meanwhile, investigations into the attack continue. A team from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has reached Srinagar and more teams are expected to follow.
8. Many top security officials are also expected to visit Pahalgam.
11. Image source, Getty Images
12. The attack in Pahalgam took place during US Vice President JD Vance’s four-day visit to India with his family. On Monday, he had held talks with Prime Minister Modi and discussed the trade deal both countries are negotiating.
13. The vice-president was in the western city of Jaipur when the attacks occurred. He is scheduled to go to the northern city of Agra on Wednesday, where he may also visit the iconic Taj Mahal.
14. Vance and his wife Usha have extended their condolences to the victims of the attack in a post on X.
15. “Over the past few days, we have been overcome with the beauty of this country and its people. Our thoughts and prayers are with them as they mourn this horrific attack,” he wrote.
18. Image source, Reuters
19. Image caption,
20. Indian police officers at a checkpoint following suspected militant attack in Kashmir
21. Territorial disputes over Kashmir – a Muslim-majority territory in the Himalayas – is at the heart of tensions between India and Pakistan.
22. Since India and Pakistan won independence from Britain in 1947, the neighbours have fought two wars over the region, which they both claim in full but only control in part.
23. Kashmir has been a flashpoint for violence. Discontent over Indian rule in the late 1980s and 1990s led to an insurgency, which Delhi accused Pakistan of helping to fund. Thousands were killed.
24. Indian-administered Kashmir long had a special position within the country, thanks to Article 370 – a clause in the constitution which gave it significant autonomy.
25. But in 2019, India’s ruling party revoked the region’s privileged status, and split the state into two federally administered territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
26. The move led to a deterioration in relations between the two nuclear-armed states, with Pakistan downgrading ties with Delhi.
29. Image source, EPA
30. As a precaution, Indian authorities have tightened security in Delhi following yesterday’s attack in Pahalgam.
31. Strict security checks are being implemented, especially in tourist areas, according to the PTI news agency.
32. Checkpoints have also been set up in the Kashmir valley, officials say.
35. The death toll from a suspected militant attack in India’s Jammu and Kashmir territory has risen to 26, according to the Reuters news agency, citing local police.
38. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was on a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia, has cut short his trip and returned to India
39. Upon his arrival, Modi held a brief meeting at the airport to take stock of the situation with Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and other officials, state news outlet Doordarshan said.
40. Image source, ANI
43. The gunmen were clearly targeting men and sparing women, eyewitnesses to the attack have been telling local media.
44. “The militants, I can’t say how many, came out of the forest near an open small meadow and started firing,” one woman told the AFP news agency.
45. “They were clearly sparing women and kept shooting at men, sometimes [with a] single shot and sometimes many bullets. It was like a storm,” she told the agency.
46. Another woman, identified as Pallavi Rao by the Indian Express newspaper, whose husband was among those shot dead, also said that men were being targeted.
49. Gunmen opened fire killing at least 24 tourists in Pahalgam, a picturesque Himalayan town, on Tuesday afternoon. Reports in local media suggest that there are a large number of wounded, with some in critical condition.
50. The attack took place in Baisaran, a mountain-top meadow three miles (5km) from Pahalgam.
51. Survivors have been recounting the horrific moments after they stepped off a tourist bus – one woman, who claimed the attackers targeted men, said her husband died from a single shot to the head, according to the Indian Express newspaper.
52. Another spoke of the chaos as people began screaming and running after the first gunshots.
53. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
54. Although Kashmir has long been the site of an armed insurgency against Indian rule, attacks on tourists have been rare.
55. The region’s chief minister, Omar Abdullah, said Tuesday’s attack was “much larger than anything we’ve seen directed at civilians in recent years”.
58. At least 24 people have died after gunmen attacked tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir. This is the latest:

• The attack took place in Pahalgam, a picturesque town in the Himalayas, with eyewitnesses saying that gunmen were targeting tourists
• Many of those injured are believed to be in critical condition with fears that the death toll is likely to rise
• No group has claimed responsibility for the attack which has been widely condemned both domestically and internationally
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi cut short an official trip to Saudi Arabia and returned to Delhi following news of the attack
• Several protests have been organised for Wednesday as India reacts with shock and anger

1. Stay with us as we bring you more of the latest updates.