A terrorist attack in picturesque meadow near Pahalgam area of Anantnag district, Jammu and Kashmir, claimed the lives of at least 28 civilians, most of them domestic tourists, on Tuesday.
Among the victims were also two foreigners, two locals and an Indian Navy officer.
Also Read: Jammu and Kashmir attack news live
In a post on social media platform X, Home Minister Amit Shah said, "Anguished by the terror attack on tourists in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. My thoughts are with the family members of the deceased. Those involved in this dastardly act of terror will not be spared, and we will come down heavily on the perpetrators with the harshest consequences."
The Pahalgam terror attack marks the deadliest attack in J&K since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
Timeline of major terror attacks on civilians in Kashmir:
- March 21, 2000: Militants targeted the minority Sikh community in Chattisinghpora village in Anantnag district on the night of March 21, killing 36 people, according to PTI.
- August 2000: Thirty-two people, among them 24 pilgrims bound for Amarnath, were killed in a terror attack at the Nunwan base camp.
- July 2001: Amarnath yatris targeted again, this time at the Sheshnag base camp in Anantnag, killing 13.
- October 1, 2001: Jammu & Kashmir State Legislature Complex in Srinagar was struck by a suicide (fidayeen) terrorist attack, killing 36 people.
- 2002: Terror struck at Chandanwari base camp, where 11 Amarnath pilgrims were killed.
- November 23, 2002: 19 people, including 9 security force personnel, three women and two children, lost their lives in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast at Lower Munda in South Kashmir on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway.
- March 23, 2003: Terrorists massacred at least 24 Kashmiri Pandits, including 11 women and two children, at Nandimarg village in Pulwama district.
- June 13, 2005: 13 civilians, including two school children, and three CRPF officers were killed, and over 100 people sustained injuries when an explosives-laden car blew up at a crowded marketplace in Pulwama.
- June 12, 2006: Terrorists killed nine labourers from Nepal and Bihar in Kulgam.
- July 10, 2017: Eight people died in an attack on an Amarnath Yatra bus in Kulgam.
Other than attacks on civilians, security forces have also endured terrorist attacks, with the 2019 Pulwama incident being the recent most heinous attack. A convoy of vehicles carrying security personnel was attacked by a suicide bomber at Lethapora on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway in the Pulwama district. 40 soldiers were killed.
(With inputs from PTI)
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