2025 Pahalgam attack

The 2025 Pahalgam attack was an attack on tourists by five armed Islamist militants near Pahalgam in the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, killing 26 civilians on 22 April 2025. The majority of the victims were Hindus, who were singled out by the militants. The attack took place at the tourist spot in Baisaran Valley and is considered the deadliest attack on civilians in India since the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

The Resistance Front (TRF), which is believed to be an offshoot of the Pakistan-based UN-designated terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, initially claimed responsibility, stating that the attack was in opposition to Indian government policy allowing Indian citizens to live and work in Kashmir, that resulted in non-local settlement in the region. Four days later, they retracted their claim of responsibility. Previously, TRF has claimed responsibility for several terrorist attacks on the security personnel and civilians in the Kashmir region.

The attackers, armed with M4 carbines and AK-47s, entered the tourist spot, which is surrounded by dense pine forests. According to survivors, the attackers singled out the men, and asked their religion before shooting them. Some tourists said that they were asked to recite the Islamic verse of kalima. Of the 26 people killed, 25 were tourists, and one was a local Muslim pony operator who tried to wrestle a gun from the attackers. All tourists killed were Hindus, except for one identified as a Christian.

The attack intensified tensions between India and Pakistan and led to a standoff between the countries. India accused Pakistan of supporting cross-border terrorism and suspended the Indus Waters Treaty, expelled Pakistani diplomats and closed borders. Pakistan denied India's accusations and retaliated by suspending the Simla Agreement, restricting trade, and closing airspace. Border skirmishes between Indian and Pakistani forces began along the Line of Control on 24 April 2025. India closed airspace to Pakistani airlines on 30 April.

The Jammu and Kashmir insurgency began in the late 1980s, as part of the wider Kashmir conflict. Pakistan's role in launching the insurgency as well as in turning it into an Islamist militancy are well-documented in the scholarly literature.

The Islamist militant outfits waged war against the Indian government in Jammu and Kashmir as well as attacks against Kashmiri Hindus, causing their exodus from the region.

In 2019, the Indian government revoked the special status previously granted to Jammu and Kashmir, and extended the Constitution of India to the state in full, enabling non-Kashmiris to purchase property and settle down in Kashmir. Also related is the issuance of domicile status to non-Kashmiris, qualifying them for jobs and college seats. Fears have been expressed that these changes would result in a change in demographics in Kashmir, with non-locals settling in the area. Some Kashmiris and other commentators have described these policies as "settler colonialism".

After the revocation, a new militant group called The Resistance Front (TRF) sprang up in Kashmir, believed to have been sponsored by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, a UN designated terrorist group. TRF has also been designated as terrorist organisation in India. Formed from the cadres of LeT and Hizbul Mujahideen in Kashmir, TRF has carried out attacks on Hindu minority communities.

Prior to 2025, the largest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir in preceding years were the 2016 Uri attack and 2019 Pulwama attack. India blamed Pakistan-based militants for both of them and conducted retaliatory strikes. In the weeks preceding the Pahalgam attack, India acquired the extradition of former Pakistan Army officer Tahawwur Rana, who was linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba and convicted (in the US) for supporting 2008 Mumbai attacks. Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir gave a speech describing Kashmir as "our jugular vein" and branding Hindus as being different from Muslims in every way via an appeal to two-nation theory.

The Indian government and media have long alleged that Pakistan supports insurgent groups such as TRF. Pakistan denies any support for militants including those involved in Jammu and Kashmir, officially maintaining only "diplomatic and moral support" for the Kashmiri people.

On 22 April 2025, five militants entered the Baisaran Valley meadow, which is located about 7 km (4.3 mi) from the Pahalgam town in Anantnag district. The area is surrounded by dense pine forests on all sides, and is a popular spot for tourists; it is only accessible by foot or horseback. The region was not heavily protected. The attackers carried M4 carbines and AK-47s and wore military-style uniforms.

Most victims of the attack were Hindus . The attack was inadvertently filmed by a Hindu tourist from Ahmedabad, who was ziplining during the attack. Syed Adil Hussain Shah, a local Muslim pony operator reportedly tried to protect the tourists and wrestle the gun from one of the attackers before being shot and killed.

The militants asked for the names and religions of the tourists , and specifically targeted those who were Hindus. The attackers killed the Hindu men after separating them from the Muslim men. Some tourists were asked to recite the Islamic verse of kalima, so that the militants could segregate them by religion. Some Hindu men were forced to remove their trousers to check for a lack of circumcision before being shot at close range, and video footage from the scene showed scenes of panic with injured victims pleading for help and bodies strewn across the ground. Accounts from survivors indicated that an attacker spared a woman telling that she was being spared so she could "narrate the horrors" to the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi.

The first tourist to be shot was newly married Shubham Dwivedi from Kanpur, who was visiting Kashmir with his wife. The militants approached the couple and asked, “Are you a Hindu or a Muslim?” and Dwivedi responded that “We are Hindus” and was shot point-blank in the head. Another newly wed victim was Indian Navy lieutenant, Vinay Narwal from Haryana, who went to Pahalgam six days after his wedding with his wife. In a viral video of the attack, his wife is heard saying "a man suddenly came and said he's not Muslim then shot him." The militants shot three bullets into Narwal’s neck, chest and thighs "after realizing he was a Hindu”.

A Hindu tourist from Pune was killed after militants asked him to recite an Islamic verse, and "when he failed to do so, they pumped three bullets into him, one on the head, one behind the ear and another in the back”, according to his daughter. The wife of another victim from Andhra Pradesh told the state's deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan that she and her husband lay on the ground, and the terrorists asked twice, "Hindu hai, muslim hai?" (lit. 'Are (you) Hindu? Are (you) Muslim?'), and when they did not respond, her husband was shot dead. A Bengali Hindu professor from Assam, who hid his identity by reciting the Islamic Kalma escaped the killing , while a Christian man from Madhya Pradesh was shot dead after being unable to recite the Islamic Kalma. His wife said the attackers took selfies with the dead bodies.

At least 26 people were killed in the attack, including 25 tourists and one local person, while 20 others were injured. Initially a list of the victims, which was verified by local officials in Kashmir, showed that 25 of the 26 killed were Hindus, while one was a local Muslim pony operator. Subsequently, one of the killed tourists was identified as a Christian. The full list of 26 victims with their names and state of residence was published by Indian newspapers.

The victims included 24 tourists from several Indian states and one foreign tourist from Nepal, while the one local killed was from Jammu and Kashmir. Witnesses stated that most of the victims were male, and the dead and injured included those from the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Gujarat, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. The dead include three Indian Government officials: recently married officers from the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy, and an official from the Intelligence Bureau. One Christian victim was a resident of Madhya Pradesh.

In the aftermath, locals assisted in the rescue effort and offered shelter to victims. Members of the local pony-handlers association rescued 11 injured tourists on ponies and improvised stretchers. Gurudwaras in Kashmir opened their doors to shelter tourists fleeing the valley in fear, as many sought safety closer to cities and airports to return to their home states. Emergency services arrived at the scene after news of the attack reached district headquarters. Two critically injured victims were taken to the district hospital at Anantnag at around 16:30, while others were transported to nearby medical centres. The critically injured were airlifted to a military hospital in Srinagar by helicopter for further treatment. A helpline was established to assist affected tourists.

A joint cordon and search operation was launched by the Indian Army, paramilitary forces, and Jammu and Kashmir Police. A temporary lockdown was imposed in Pahalgam, and Indian Army helicopters were deployed to track down the militants, who reportedly fled to the upper reaches of the Pir Panjal range.

On 24 April, an Indian soldier was killed and two other soldiers wounded during a gunfight with insurgents in the Basantgarh area of Udhampur.

Authorities conducted extensive searches in Indian-administered Kashmir, detaining more than 1,500 people for questioning. They also demolished the houses of the families of at least 10 alleged militants.

The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of the Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, claimed responsibility for the attack, linking it to Indian government policy that allows non-Kashmiris to live and work, resulting in non-local settlement in Kashmir. In a statement on the social media platform Telegram, TRF opposed the granting of domicile certificates to "outsiders", and voiced discontent at resulting alleged demographic changes in the region. It claimed, "These non-locals arrive posing as tourists, obtain domiciles, and then begin to act as if they own the land. Consequently, violence will be directed toward those attempting to settle illegally."

TRF has a history of targeting non-Kashmiri settlers on such grounds. In June 2020, it released a statement saying, "any Indian who comes with an intention to settle in Kashmir will be treated as an agent of RSS and not as civilian and will be dealt with appropriately." In December 2020, it shot and killed a 70-year-old goldsmith, who had lived in Kashmir close to 50 years, branding him part of the "settler" project. In February 2021, it killed a Punjabi restauranteur's son, even though Punjabi Khatris are a well-established part of Srinagar's retail business, having arrived there well before 1947. In October seven civilians were killed in the span of a week, including two school teachers, a pharmacist and poor economic migrants. According to Puri, such killings of civilians are not normally condoned by the populace but the atmosphere of "mass-scale hysteria" in the Valley on potential demographic changes allows TRF to get away with them.

On 26 April, TRF retracted responsibility for the attack, claiming that their initial claim of responsibility was a communications breach. TRF accused Indian intelligence operatives of having a part in the attack, and stated that they were conducting their own investigation into the perpetrators.

The National Investigation Agency initiated an investigation into the attack after visiting the site on 23 April. Based on eyewitness testimonies, the Jammu and Kashmir Police released sketches of three of the militants believed to have been involved in the attack. The police stated that all of them were linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba and at least two are foreigners. Police confirmed that all of them have been linked to previous militancy-related incidents in the Poonch region. Following the attack, hundreds of former overground workers and ex-militants were interrogated in Kashmir.

Indian authorities have linked the Pahalgam attack to Pakistan, with digital traces leading to safe houses in Muzaffarabad and Karachi. They concluded that forensic evidence and intelligence intercepts suggest potential support from operatives based in Pakistan. Followed by the investigation, NIA found that the attack was done under the directives issued by senior operatives of Pakistan's intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

On 26 April, a new first information report (FIR) was registered by the central anti-terrorism agency, following an order from the counter terrorism and counter radicalisation (CTCR) division of the ministry of home affairs.

The investigation team has determined that Hashim Musa, one of the two Pakistani militants identified in connection with the Pahalgam terror attack, previously served in Pakistan's paramilitary forces and joined the banned militant organization Lashkar-e-Taiba after being dismissed from military service.

On 24 April the Jammu and Kashmir Police announced a total bounty of Rs 60 lakh for information leading to the identification, arrest, or elimination of the individuals responsible for the Pahalgam attack. The bounty is divided into Rs 20 lakh for each of the three suspected terrorists, identified as Adil Hussain Thoker, a resident of Anantnag, and two Pakistani nationals, Ali Bhai (also known as Talha Bhai) and Hashim Musa (also known as Suleiman). According to the police, all three individuals are confirmed to be members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group.

Modi cut his visit to Saudi Arabia short and returned to India to chair a meeting with the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on the issue. After this meeting, the Indian foreign secretary, Vikram Misri, briefed senior diplomats around the world regarding five major decisions made by the Indian government. He announced India would immediately suspend the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan until Pakistan ceases its support for cross-border terrorism. He further announced the closure of the main border crossing between the two countries, a travel ban of all Pakistani nationals to India under the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme, and a cancellation of all previously issued visas. Pakistani military advisers at the High Commission of Pakistan in New Delhi were expelled, and their Indian counterparts in Islamabad were withdrawn.

Union home minister Amit Shah travelled to Srinagar to assess the situation and coordinate the security response, and later travelled to the site of the attack. On 23 April, the Indian Army gave limited clearance for the operation of its grounded HAL Dhruv fleet for counterterrorism operations.

The government later admitted a security lapse revealing that Baisaran Valley had been opened to tourists two months ahead of schedule without notifying security forces, a factor which facilitated the attack. On 24 April, the central government convened an all-party meeting to brief opposition parties in the wake of the attack. Opposition leaders criticised the oversight and Modi’s absence from the briefing.

Following the attack, an increase in the number of visitors leaving Jammu and Kashmir was recorded, prompting Air India to operate additional flights to the region.

Following the attack, protests were held across Muslim-majority regions of Kashmir, including Srinagar, Pulwama, Shopian, Pahalgam, Anantnag, Baramulla, and other towns. Demonstrators expressed grief and anger, calling the attack a blow to Kashmiriyat and condemning the violence. Shops and businesses shut down in solidarity. On 25 April, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, in his Friday sermon at Srinagar’s Jamia Masjid, said that Kashmiris "stand shoulder to shoulder with the victims." A minute of silence was observed before prayers in memory of those killed.

Protests were held in many parts of India condemning the attack. The attack also prompted a surge in Islamophobic and anti-Kashmiri sentiments across the country. The Association for Protection of Civil Rights, a civil rights advocacy group, has recorded multiple incidents of Islamophobic hate speech, intimidation, and violence, since the attack. Particularly, Kashmiri women and students have faced incidents of threats, harassment, heckling, and assaults from far-right Hindutva groups. In states such as Uttarakhand, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh, Kashmiri tenants faced eviction from their rented accommodations, and shopkeepers refused to trade with them. Several Kashmiri students were forced to seek refuge in airports while attempting to return home. In Dehradun, the leader of the Hindu Raksha Dal, a far-right Hindutva organisation, issued a threat, warning that Kashmiri Muslims must leave or face unspecified consequences. He also announced plans to mobilise workers to act against them. The state government of Haryana, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), issued directives to ensure the safety of Kashmiri students. However, several BJP members and leaders have also been linked to the rise in hate speech and violence following the attack, including public calls for economic boycotts, inflammatory mosque protests, and assaults on Muslim vendors. Affiliates like the Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) have also staged protests featuring similar rhetoric. On 1 May 2025, Himamashi Narwal, the widow of one of the victims, called for unity and the promotion of communal harmony.

The attack drew immediate widespread condemnation from political leaders. Indian president Droupadi Murmu called it a "dastardly and inhuman act." Vice president Jagdeep Dhankhar called the act "reprehensible" and condemned it. Modi termed the attack as "shocking and painful" and said that those responsible would be brought to justice.

Chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah described the incident as "much larger than anything we've seen directed at civilians in recent years." Defence minister Rajnath Singh labeled it an "act of cowardice." The leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, criticised the Indian government's policy on Kashmir in light of the attack but also extended support to the government to deal with the threat. Asaduddin Owaisi, the AIMIM chief and a popular Muslim politician, criticised Pakistan for its involvement in the terror attack at Pahalgam, accusing the country of being the successor of ISIS.

The attack drew condemnations and statements of condolences from several other countries including Iran, Israel, Italy, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States, and India's neighbours including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The United Nations and the European Union also issued similar statements.

Pakistani defence minister Khawaja Asif dismissed the allegations of his country's involvement in the attack, stating, "This is all home-grown, there are revolutions in different so-called states against India, not one, not two, but dozens, from Nagaland to Kashmir, in the south, in Chattisgarh, in Manipur. In all these places, there are revolutions against the Indian government." Asif did not rule out the possibility that the attacks were orchestrated by India or were a false flag operation, claiming that The Resistance Front could not be considered as perpetrators because they would allegedly no longer exist. In an interview with Sky News, he acknowledged that the Pakistani state has a history of funding, training, and supporting terrorist organizations, noting that Pakistan has "done the dirty work for the United States for about three decades. And West, including Britain."

Pakistan also warned India of a comprehensive retaliation in response to the actions announced by the Indian government in the aftermath of the incident. On 24 April, Pakistan suspended visas issued to Indian nationals and closed its airspace to Indian aircraft. On the night between 24 and 25 April, Pakistani and Indian troops skirmished and exchanged small arms fire at multiple positions along the line of control.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Commissioner condemned the Pahalgam attack stating “We are deeply concerned by the explicit targeting of Hindus and other non-Muslims”.

• Settler colonialism
• 2025 India–Pakistan standoff
• Reactions to the 2025 Pahalgam attack
• List of terrorist incidents in India
  • 2000 Chittisinghpura massacre
  • 2016 Pathankot attack
  • 2019 Pulwama attack
  • 2023 Rajouri attacks
  • 2024 Reasi attack

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