The home minister is likely to visit Pahalgam on Wednesday, they added.
Terrorists opened fire at a famed meadow near Kashmir’s Pahalgam town on Tuesday afternoon, killing 26 people, mostly tourists, in what is the deadliest attack in the valley since the 2019 Pulwama strike.
The dead included two foreigners and two locals, a high ranking official said without getting into details.
The toll is still being ascertained, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said while describing the terror attack as “much larger than anything we’ve seen directed at civilians in recent years”.
Baisaran, about six kilometres from the resort town of Pahalgam, is an expansive meadow ringed by dense pine forests and mountains and a favourite with visitors from across the country and the world.
Armed terrorists came into the grassland, dubbed “mini Switzerland”, and started firing at tourists milling around eateries, taking pony rides or picnicking, officials and eyewitnesses said.
As news of the attack spread, The Resistance Front (TRF), a shadow group of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror group, claimed responsibility.
The officials said it was possible members of the terror group could have crossed over from Kishtwar in Jammu and reached Baisaran through Kokernag in south Kashmir. PTI MIJ SZM SZM
