The attack took place on Tuesday at the Baisaran meadows near Pahalgam in the Anantnag district, a popular tourist destination in south Kashmir.
A day after a deadly terrorist attack in Pahalgam killed at least 26 people, security forces have detained around 1,500 suspects across Kashmir for questioning, top police sources told Times Now.
The attack took place on Tuesday at the Baisaran meadows near Pahalgam in the Anantnag district, a popular tourist destination in south Kashmir. Most of the victims were tourists from other Indian states and all were males.
The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy group of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, has claimed responsibility for the attack.
On Wednesday, security agencies released sketches of three suspects believed to be involved in the massacre. The men, identified as Pakistani nationals Asif Fauji, Suleman Shah, and Abu Talha, were known by their aliases Moosa, Yunus, and Asif. Officials said the black-and-white sketches were created with input from survivors. The attackers were described as young men with beards.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security upon returning from Saudi Arabia. The committee includes senior ministers such as Home Minister Amit Shah, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who cut short a US visit to return.
Meanwhile, Shah visited the site of the attack, Baisaran meadows, on Wednesday, where he was briefed by top army and police officials on the suspected routes used by the attackers. He also visited the injured at a hospital in Anantnag and attended a wreath-laying ceremony for the victims in Srinagar.
In a post on X, he wrote, “Bharat will not bend to terror. The culprits of this dastardly terror attack will not be spared.”
The Union Home Minister also assured that security forces will leave no stone unturned to bring the perpetrators to the book.
Meanwhile, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Wednesday asserted that those responsible for the “cowardly terrorist attack” on innocent citizens in Pahalgam will soon get a “strong response” to their nefarious acts on Indian soil.
Singh, while delivering the annual Arjan Singh Memorial lecture, while vowing a befitting reply also said India will not only hunt down the people who perpetrated the attack but will also trace those “sitting behind the scenes” who had conspired to carry out the deadly act on the Indian soil.