Indian security forces launched a massive manhunt after Islamic terrorists, on Tuesday, massacred dozens of people in the northern province of Kashmir.
Pakistan-trained jihadists reportedly gunned down sightseers at a popular tourist spot, killing 26 people in the deadliest massacre in India since the 2008 Mumbai terror attack. “At least 26 persons — mostly tourists — were killed by terrorists on Tuesday at the Baisaran meadows in Pahalgam in one of the worst terror attacks on civilians in Kashmir in the past many years,” the Indian newspaper Pioneer reported.
The attack was carried out by Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Indian authorities say. “The attackers, believed to be members of The Resistance Front—an offshoot of proscribed terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)—opened fire on tourists at the popular Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam on Tuesday afternoon,” the India Today weekly reported.
In recent months, Islamic terrorists have stepped up attacks on Indian troops and civilians in the region. These attacks are part of a jihad warfare declared by Pakistan-backed terrorist groups to create an Islamic state in the northernmost Muslim-dominated part of India.
Faced with cross-border jihad, India has been building hundreds of miles of border fence to prevent infiltration. The country has fenced nearly all of the 2100-mile border with Pakistan, and similar measures have been taken along the border with Muslim-majority Bangladesh. India’s border defenses include barbed wire followed by landmines and military posts.
The attackers reportedly separated non-Muslim from Muslims, forcing them to recite the Islamic declaration of faith, or Shahada, at gunpoint. Those failing to recall the Quranic verse were murdered on the spot. Indian news reports say.
“Terrorists who targeted tourists in Pahalgam asked an LIC manager from Indore, who belonged to the Christian community, to recite the ‘Kalma’ before shooting him dead,” the Indian newspaper Deccan Herald reported. “The deceased’s cousin sister Indu Dawar also claimed that according to their family members present at the incident spot, terrorists shot Sushil Nathaniel after asking him about his religious identity.
The jihadist group LeT was also behind the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that killed 168 and wounded over 300 Indian and foreign nationals.
India announced a raft of counter-measures in response to the cross-border terror attack. New Delhi recalled its diplomats from Pakistan and ordered Pakistani nationals travelling on visas to leave the country immediately. “India will withdraw staff from its high commission in Pakistan,” the New Delhi Television (NDTV) reported. “The current visas of Pakistani nationals … have been cancelled, and they must leave within 48 hours.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called a security cabinet meeting to discuss retaliatory measures against the neighboring Islamic Republic. “Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told a media briefing that the cross-border linkages of the attack had been “brought out” at a special meeting of the security cabinet, after which it was decided to act against Pakistan,” Reuters reported. “The main border crossing checkpost between the two countries will be closed with immediate effect and Pakistani nationals will not be allowed to travel to India under special visas, Misri said.”
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, who is on a four-day visit to India, condemned the horrific terror attack.
Calling the murder of innocent Indians by Islamic terrorists “deeply disturbing,” President Trump, on Truth Social, declared that the “United States stands strong with India against Terrorism.”
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