In response to the attack, the Delhi Police ramped up security across the city, focusing particularly on tourist hotspots and border checkpoints, officials said, confirming that checking and surveillance have been intensified.New Delhi: After terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, major cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur and Amritsar have been placed on high alert today. 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 Pulwama strike in 2019.
In response to the attack, the Delhi Police ramped up security across the city, focusing particularly on tourist hotspots and border checkpoints, officials said, confirming that checking and surveillance have been intensified.
They said traffic movement has also been regulated in sensitive zones.The 26 dead in the Pahalgam terror attack included two foreigners and two locals, a high-ranking official said without getting into details.Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the toll was still being ascertained and described the attack as “much larger than anything we’ve seen directed at civilians in recent years”.Prime Minister Narendra Modi cut short his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia and decided to return to New Delhi on Tuesday night, as the terror attack sent shockwaves in the country and drew widespread condemnation and outrage. He was originally scheduled to return to India on Wednesday night.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah described the terror attack as “much larger than anything we’ve seen directed at civilians in recent years” Officials said that 22 of the 26 victims have been identified and efforts are being made to ascertain the identity of the other four.Among the dead were tourists from several states including Karnataka, Maharashtra, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. At least one person from Gujarat, three from Tamil Nadu and two from Maharashtra were among the injured. The attack, which comes as US Vice President J D Vance is visiting India and just as the tourist and trekking season is picking up momentum, took place around 3 pm in Baisaran, about six kilometres from the resort town of Pahalgam.
It is an expansive meadow ringed by dense pine forests and mountains and a favourite with visitors from across the country and the world.Terrorists came into the grassland, dubbed ‘mini Switzerland’, and started firing at tourists milling around eateries, taking pony rides or just picnicking, officials and eyewitnesses said.The alert coincides with the ongoing visit of US Vice President J D Vance as security has already been strengthened in Delhi and other cities.
