“Act of war”: What was the attack in Kashmir that claimed the lives of 26 tourists?

Suspected rebels killed at least 26 people on Tuesday in the picturesque tourist resort of Pahalgam in the deadliest such attack in a quarter-century in Indian-administered Kashmir, setting off a chain of tit-for-tat moves by India and Pakistan and raising the spectre of a full-fledged conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

The attack in Kashmir’s southern district of Anantnag prompted anger across India. It came amid the peak tourist season as hundreds of thousands of tourists were holidaying in the region, which has been racked by a three-decade armed rebellion.
Soon after the attack, teams of police and paramilitary troops rushed to the spot to evacuate the wounded tourists and launch a manhunt for the attackers that is continuing two days later.

Indian Home Minister Amit Shah, along with the country’s top security brass, rushed to Kashmir, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi cut short a visit to Saudi Arabia to return to New Delhi, where he held a meeting on Wednesday morning to craft India’s response.

The attack also unfolded as India was hosting United States Vice President JD Vance, who arrived on Monday and left on Thursday.

Here’s what we know about the attack, the victims, the attackers, the backdrop for the killings, what this means for Kashmir and the region, and how India might react.
On Tuesday, witnesses told Al Jazeera that the area was bustling with tourists. At about 2:45pm, a group of armed men in camouflage clothes emerged from a nearby forest, an official said, requesting anonymity to discuss details that security forces have not made public.

The attackers “opened indiscriminate fire at Baisaran meadow, a scenic uphill area accessible only by foot or pony rides,” the official said. Many tourists were caught off-guard as the sudden volley of bullets rang out.

Simran Chandani, a tourist from Nagpur in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, said she was not sure she would survive the attack.

“We were preparing to leave after having tea and Maggi [a popular prepackaged, ready-to-eat noodle snack]” when the attack started, she said, describing Pahalgam as “mini-Switzerland”.

Then it all changed. “I saw a rush of people coming down, we thought the balloon had burst, people were pushing each other, who told us an attack had happened,” she recalled, adding that mostly men were fired upon.

She joined the others in trying to escape. “I was taking the name of God and running,” Chandani said.