Rage and grief after 26 killed in Indian-administered Kashmir

An Indian naval officer on honeymoon, a tourist guide who was sole breadwinner for his family, and a businessman holidaying with his wife and children were among the victims of the horrific attack that killed 26 people in Indian-administered Kashmir.

A group of gunmen opened fire on Tuesday on tourists at a resort in Pahalgam, a picturesque town in the Himalayas often described as the “Switzerland of India”.

Visitors from different states in India were killed, others seriously injured – there is no official confirmation on the numbers yet from the government.

The attack was one of the deadliest in recent years in the troubled region, and it has shattered the lives of many.

The attack took place on Tuesday afternoon. Eyewitnesses told the BBC that tourists had gathered at Baisaran, a mountain-top meadow 5km (three miles) from Pahalgam, when they heard the sound of bullets ripping through the air.

They began to run for cover and in the chaos, some were injured or separated from their groups.

Veenu Bhai, who fractured his arm as he was trying to escape, told BBC Hindi that there was confusion and mayhem everywhere. Children could be heard screaming and no one knew what was going on, he said.

Priyadarshini, whose husband Prashant Satpathy was killed in the attack, told the Indian Express newspaper that he was hit by a bullet as they were alighting from a ropeway.

JS Chandramouli, a retired banker who had travelled to Kashmir with his wife and four others, became separated from his group and his bullet-ridden body was found several hours later at the site of the attack, the newspaper reported.

Most of the victims were Hindu men.

Some eyewitnesses said it appeared the gunmen targeted non-Muslims but others have described the shooting as random. A local Muslim man was among the victims.

India’s government has not given an official account on whether people were targeted on the basis of religion.

Himanshi, who was on honeymoon with her husband Vinay Narwal, an Indian naval officer, can be heard saying in a video that has now gone viral that one of the attackers asked her husband if he was a Muslim.

“When he said no, the man shot him dead,” she said.

The couple married last week, on 16 April. On Wednesday, Himanshi bid a tearful farewell to her husband as he lay in a coffin draped with the Indian flag.

“He was the best man. I pray that his soul rests in peace and he has the best life wherever he is,” she said.

Vinay’s grandfather, Hawa Singh Narwal, told BBC Punjabi that his grandson had initially wanted to go to Switzerland for his honeymoon.

“But he did not get a visa,” he said.

Asavari, the daughter of Santosh Jagdale – a businessman from Maharashtra state – told PTI news agency that the gunmen asked her father to recite an Islamic verse.

“When he failed to do so, they pumped three bullets into him, one in the head, one behind the ear and another in the back,” she said.

She added that the attackers killed her uncle too, who was standing next to her.

Pallavi, whose husband Manjunath Rao was killed, told reporters that when she confronted the attackers and asked them to shoot her too, one of them said, “I won’t kill you. Go tell this to [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi.”

The tragedy has torn families apart and engulfed households in grief.

As they speak to journalists, many relatives break down in tears.

The mother of Syed Hussain Shah, a local man who took tourists on horse rides to earn a living and died in the attack, told ANI news agency that her son was the sole breadwinner of the family.

She was inconsolable when reporters asked her about her son. Reports said that hundreds of people attended Shah’s funeral, including Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who told reporters that the man was killed while trying to stop the attackers.

In the western state of Maharashtra, a family is struggling to come to terms with the sudden loss of three of its members.

Atul Mone, Sanjay Lele and Hemant Joshi, cousins who had gone to Kashmir with six other family members, were killed by the gunmen.

“We found out last night [about their deaths]. The family is in shock,” a relative told BBC Marathi.

The brazen attack at one of its most popular tourist destinations has shocked India and been condemned by leaders around the world. People across India have been protesting.

In Kashmir, locals shut down markets, businesses and schools on Wednesday in protest at the attack. Some locals told the BBC that they feared tourists would be scared away, causing irreparable harm to their businesses and Kashmir’s economy.

There’s an eerie silence in areas that once bustled with tourist activity.

It’s been more than 24 hours since the atrocity, and those affected are still struggling to come to terms with what’s happened. A huge manhunt is under way for the militants suspected of carrying out the killings.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi cut short a foreign trip to return to Delhi for talks with security chiefs and other officials.

“Those responsible and behind such an act will very soon hear our response, loud and clear,” Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said. “We will not only reach those who have perpetrated this incident but also those who, sitting behind the scenes, have conspired to commit such acts on the soil of India.”

India has yet to say who it thinks carried out the killings. But after previous attacks it launched cross-border strikes, blaming militant groups it says are supported by Pakistan, which denies the accusation.

Observers say there is now a risk of fresh hostilities between the nuclear-armed neighbours if India takes a similar course of action.

Hawa Singh Narwal says he is full of rage and grief and wants “exemplary punishment” for the attackers.

“Today, I lost my grandson. Tomorrow, someone else will lose theirs [if such attacks don’t stop],” he told BBC Punjabi.

Additional reporting by BBC Hindi’s Majid Jahangir, BBC Marathi’s Deepali Jagtap and Vinayak Hogade and BBC Punjabi’s Kamal Saini