Srinagar: Union Home Minister Amit Shah arrived in Srinagar on Tuesday evening to review the security situation in Kashmir following a deadly terror attack in Pahalgam in which 26 people were killed, officials said.
Hours after the attack on tourists, Shah rushed to Srinagar and drove straight to the Raj Bhavan from the airport.
Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Nalin Prabhat briefed the home minister upon his arrival. Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan and Director of Intelligence Bureau Tapan Deka were present at the time of the briefing.
After that, Shah chaired a high-level meeting of security officials, including those from the Army, CRPF and police.
“Union Home Minister Amit Shah chairs a high-level security review meeting in Srinagar in the wake of the terrorist attack on tourists in Pahalgam,” a spokesperson said.
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 2019 Pulwama strike.
The dead included two foreigners and two locals, a high-ranking official said without getting into details.
The toll is still being ascertained, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said while describing the terror attack as “much larger than anything we’ve seen directed at civilians in recent years”.
Baisaran, about six kilometres from the resort town of Pahalgam, is an expansive meadow ringed by dense pine forests and mountains and a favourite with visitors from across the country and the world.
Armed terrorists came into the grassland, dubbed “mini Switzerland”, and started firing at tourists milling around eateries, taking pony rides or picnicking, officials and eyewitnesses said.
As news of the attack spread, The Resistance Front (TRF), a shadow group of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror group, claimed responsibility.
The officials said it was possible that members of the terror group crossed over from Kishtwar in Jammu and reached Baisaran through Kokernag in south Kashmir.
