Death toll in India terror attack rises to 26

Twenty-six people were killed and 17 were injured when gunmen opened fire at tourists in India's Jammu and Kashmir territory, police said on Wednesday, the worst such attack in the country in nearly two decades.

The attack took place on Tuesday in a meadow in the Pahalgam area of the scenic, Himalayan federal territory and the dead included 25 Indians and one Nepalese national, police said.

It was the worst attack on civilians in India since the 2008 Mumbai shootings.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi cut short his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia and returned to New Delhi on Wednesday morning. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was also cutting short her visit to the United States and Peru "to be with our people in this difficult and tragic time", her ministry said.

Modi held a meeting with the national security adviser, the foreign minister and other senior officials at the airport and a special security cabinet meeting had been called for 0530 GMT, a defence ministry official said.

A little-known rebel group, the "Kashmir Resistance," claimed responsibility for the attack in a social media message. It expressed discontent that more than 85,000 "outsiders" had been settled in the region, spurring a "demographic change".

Indian security agencies say Kashmir Resistance is a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen. 

"We are concerned at the loss of tourists’ lives," Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan said in a statement. "We extend our condolences to the near ones of the deceased and wish the injured a speedy recovery."

On Wednesday, over a dozen local organisations called for a shutdown in the federal territory to protest against the attack on tourists, whose rising numbers have helped the local economy.

Many schools also suspended classes for the day in protest.

TOURISTS RUSH TO RETURN

Airlines were operating extra flights from Srinagar, the summer capital of the territory, as visitors were rushing out of the region, officials said.

The main highway connecting Srinagar to the rest of the country had been damaged by heavy rain and was shut for repairs, pushing up demand for flights, they said. "As part of immediate relief measures, four special flights from Srinagar - two to Delhi and two to Mumbai - have been arranged, with additional flights kept on standby to cater to further evacuation needs," a statement from Aviation Minister Rammohan Naidu Kinjarapu's office said.

"Naidu also held an urgent meeting with all airline operators and...directed (them) to maintain regular fare levels, ensuring that no passenger is burdened during this sensitive time," it said.

India revoked Kashmir's special status in 2019, splitting the state into two federally administered territories - Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. The move allowed local authorities to issue domicile rights to outsiders, allowing them to get jobs and buy land in the territory.