Police say at least nine dead and 33 injured after a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims plunged into a gorge following a shooting attack.
At least nine people were killed and 33 others injured after a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims in Indian-administered Kashmir plunged into a ravine following an alleged shooting attack, police said.
The accident occurred on Sunday near the town of Reasi, in the south of the disputed territory, when the bus was returning from a popular Hindu shrine in the area.
“The militants ambushed the bus and shot at it indiscriminately. The bus fell into a gorge, killing nine pilgrims and injuring 33,” Reasi district police chief Mohita Sharma told reporters.
He said the rescue operation was completed and the injured were shifted to Narayana Hospital and Reasi District Hospital.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
The bus was transporting pilgrims to the base camp of the Mata Vaishno Devi Hindu temple when it was attacked, senior administrative official Vishesh Mahajan said.
The president of India's opposition Congress party, Mallikarjun Kharge, condemned the “horrific terrorist attack” in a post on social media platform X.
Modi's “propaganda of bringing peace and normality… rings hollow,” he said.
The Himalayan region, which Pakistan also claims, has been gripped by violence since the start of an armed rebellion in 1989. Tens of thousands of people have been killed, although violence has declined in recent years.
India regularly accuses Pakistan of supporting and arming rebels in Kashmir, a charge Islamabad denies.
The last major attack on Hindu pilgrims in the region occurred in 2017, when a bus was attacked, killing eight people.
Sunday's attack comes a day after Police Chief RR Swain said the number of local fighters in the territory was declining but that between 70 and 80 foreign fighters remained active.
Additionally, anti-India violence and protests have also declined sharply since 2019, when the Modi government canceled the region's limited autonomy.
No separatist group called for a boycott of the recently concluded general elections, the first since the armed revolt broke out in the territory.
Voting in the region had a turnout of 58.6 percent, according to India's election commission, an increase of 30 percentage points from the last vote in 2019 and the highest in 35 years.
