"Shot for Not Reciting Scripture"... Most Kashmir Attack Victims Were Male Tourists

At Least 26 Dead, Including Two Foreign Nationals
Witnesses Say Gunmen Spared Women and Kept Shooting Only at Men
Evidence Suggests Attackers Targeted Non-Muslims

In northern India, gunmen in the Kashmir resort area reportedly targeted male tourists and non-Muslims in a shooting attack.

According to AFP and India's PTI news agency on April 23, police stated that at least 26 people were killed and 17 injured in a shooting attack that took place on April 22 (local time) in Baisaran, about 6 kilometers from the resort town of Pahalgam in the Indian-administered Kashmir region.

An Indian security officer is patrolling the Pahalgam shopping area. Photo by AP Yonhap News

Most of the victims were Indian tourists. Authorities reported that foreign nationals from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Nepal were also among the victims. Some local reports said the death toll had risen to 28.

Baisaran, known as the 'Mini Switzerland,' is a vast meadow surrounded by dense pine forests and mountains, and is a popular destination for travelers. Witnesses said that armed militants appeared and attacked tourists who were walking or riding ponies.

One witness told AFP, "It's hard to say how many armed men there were, but they emerged from the forest near a small pasture and started shooting." He added, "They clearly spared the women and kept shooting only at the men. Sometimes they fired a single shot, sometimes several. It was like a storm."

A woman from southern India who lost her husband before her eyes said, "It felt like a nightmare," and estimated there were three to four attackers. She said, "I told them to kill me too," but "one of them said, 'We will not kill you. Go and tell Prime Minister Modi,'" she recounted.

There were also indications that the attackers targeted non-Muslims. A 26-year-old woman at the scene told PTI that the attackers "told my father, who was in a tent, to recite verses from the Quran." "When he couldn't, they shot him three times and also shot my uncle," she said. She, her mother, and another female family member survived and escaped.

PTI reported that some witnesses said there were about five attackers. Police have classified this incident as a terrorist attack by armed groups opposed to Indian rule in the region.

The local militant group 'The Resistance Front' (TRF), which is linked to the Pakistani terrorist organization 'Lashkar-e-Taiba' (LeT), claimed responsibility for the attack. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who returned urgently from a visit to Saudi Arabia, strongly condemned the Kashmir attack on social media, stating, "We will not spare those behind this heinous act."

Kashmir is a disputed territory between India and Pakistan. India controls the Kashmir Valley and Jammu, while Pakistan effectively controls the western part of Kashmir. The Pahalgam area, where the attack occurred, is administered by India, a Hindu-majority country, but the local population is predominantly Muslim.

India has long claimed that terrorist groups backed by Pakistan frequently infiltrate its territory in Kashmir to carry out attacks.