Soutik Biswas
India Correspondent

The timing of the attack raises significant questions, particularly given the context in which it occurred, says Hussain Haqqani, a former Pakistani ambassador to the US.

He points out that the attack coincided with several key events: the visit of US Vice President JD Vance to India, a speech by Pakistan’s Army Chief General Asim Munir, external highlighting Pakistan's stance on Kashmir, and Indian Prime Minister Modi’s trip to Saudi Arabia.

Just last week, Gen Munir had said that "Pakistan would stand by Kashmiris in their fight against Indian occupation", calling Kashmir Pakistan’s "jugular vein".

Mr Haqqani told the BBC that the comments might signal a shift in Pakistan's strategy.

"They could be interpreted as suggesting that due to India's refusal to [engage with] Pakistan over Kashmir, Pakistan’s military establishment, unlike during his predecessor’s time, will no longer apply pressure on jihadi groups that operate inside Pakistani territory," Mr Haqqani said .

"At a time when Pakistan faces economic, political and security crises, the India factor can be a useful tool to unite the Pakistani public against an external enemy."

Reactions are continuing to pour in from around the world as leaders express their condemnation for the horrific killings in Pahalgam.

Just hours earlier, Prime Minister Modi held talks with the leaders of Mauritius, Nepal and Australia, a statement by the Indian foreign ministry said.

It added that Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam had expressed his support and solidarity with India and said the two countries "remain united in the fight against terror".

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, meanwhile, has said his country will extend “all support" to India to fight terrorism.

Modi also spoke with Nepal's leader KP Sharma Oli and conveyed his condolences on the death of a Nepalese national in the attack, the statement added.

Imran Qureshi
BBC Hindi, Bangalore

Image source, Imran Qureshi/BBC

Ganesh Bhat says he recommended Pahalgam as a holiday destination to his friend Manjunath Rao, one of the victims.

A 47-year-old realtor from Karnataka state, Rao was visiting Pahalgam with his wife and son and was reportedly shot in the head.

"He had called me on Monday night to say the trip was worth it," Bhat told BBC Hindi. Hours later, Rao's family and friends are grappling with an unimaginable tragedy.

This was the Rao family's first visit to the region.

"Their son had passed his school leaving exam with 96% and they went there to celebrate."

Bhat, who runs a brokerage firm, had himself visited the region earlier in April with his family.

"When I was there, I had asked the local people how the security situation was. They had said everything was safe. We also felt no sense of insecurity."

Image source, Getty Images

...but we don't have an official statement yet on the events that led to the killings of 26 civilians.

Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have condemned the attack with assurances that the culprits will be brought to justice.

Modi, who was on an official visit to Saudi Arabia when the attack took place, cut short his visit and returned to India on Wednesday morning.

Shah is in Kashmir, where he paid respects to those killed in the attack and met survivors.

Amidst the growing anger in India, Pakistan has condemned the attack and unequivocally asserted that it had nothing to do with the events in Pahalgam.

Stay with us as we continue to bring you more details.

In many towns across Kashmir, protesters condemning the Pahalgam attack have come out onto the streets. In Srinagar, local traders demonstrated in Lal Chowk, the heart of the city usually bustling with people. Today, it is shuttered down. The BBC's Yogita Limaye reports.

Soutik Biswas
India Correspondent

It’s a grim pattern: the moment there’s an attack in Kashmir, India accuses and Pakistan rebuffs. The old script plays out, and the chill between the neighbours deepens.

I asked Hussain Haqqani, a former Pakistani ambassador to the US, whether the neighbourly relations were now truly beyond repair.

"The recent terror attacks while reprehensible are not new in India-Pakistan relations," he said.

"Relations between the two countries always go through a cycle: there is a terror attack inside India, there is a response by India that leads to escalation, then after global pressure there is a calming down of the situation, and relations go back to what they were prior to the attack, Mr Haqqani said.

"Right now it is unlikely that relations will get beyond repair, but it is equally unlikely that it will result in any thawing of relations."

In other words, the script may be painfully familiar - and so might be the impasse. For now, the cycle grinds on, with no reset in sight.

Image source, ANI

The horrific attack that claimed the lives of 26 tourists has shattered families across the country.

Eyewitnesses and survivors have shared accounts with reporters, painting a terrifying picture of those fateful moments.

Veenu Bhai told BBC Hindi that the ordeal began in the afternoon when tourists gathered at Baisaran, a mountain-top meadow three miles (5km) from Pahalgam, heard gunshots.

People began to run for cover and some got injured, others got separated from their groups and some got shot, he said.

Most of the victims of the attack were Hindu men. Some eyewitnesses told the media it appeared the gunmen had targeted non-Muslim men, but others said the shooting was random. A local Muslim man is also among the victims.

Image source, Imran Qureshi/BBC

Asavari, the daughter of Santosh Jagdale - a businessman from Maharashtra state who was killed - told PTI news agency that the attackers asked her father to recite an Islamic verse.

"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," she said.

The Indian authorities have not given an official account on whether people were targeted on the basis of religion.

The other victims were an Indian Navy officer who was on his honeymoon and a horse-rider who was the sole breadwinner for his family. A businessman holidaying with his wife and children was shot dead in front of them.

Hawa Singh Narwal, grandfather of Vinay Narwal, the naval officer, told BBC Punjabi that he wanted "exemplary punishment" for the attackers.

Ganesh Bhat, who recommended Pahalgam as a holiday destination to his friend Manjunath Rao, one of the victims, is overcome with grief and struggling to come to terms with his friend's death.

Some families are putting their dead relatives to rest while others are waiting for the bodies to be returned to them.

There's unease and tense silence in the air. India is a nation in mourning.

Additional reporting by BBC Hindi and BBC Punjabi

Yogita Limaye
Reporting from Srinagar

We're about 60km (37 miles) from the site of the attack in Pahalgam.

Journalists are not being allowed to go past the security cordons. The police say they have instructions to not allow the media beyond this point, although there are no restrictions on civilian movement here.

This has made it impossible for us to reach the hospital where the injured and affected are being treated.

Some journalists were able to get there overnight before the restrictions were imposed.

It’s always been difficult to report from Kashmir given the conflict that has raged on, but in the past five years since its special status was revoked, local journalists have been forced to operate under severe restrictions - mostly unable to independently report from here.

Syed Hussain Shah, a resident of Anantnag district in Kashmir, used to take tourists on horse rides to earn a living. His father spoke to ANI news agency about the moment he heard of his son's death.

Surbhi Kaul
BBC Monitoring

Image source, Getty Images

Russian news accounts have highlighted President Vladimir Putin's condemnation of the attacks in the tourist spot of Pahalgam.

On X, Sputnik India and RT India prominently featured Putin's message expressing "heartfelt condolences" to India's president and prime minister and highlighted his message that Moscow was ready to cooperate with India to "combat all forms and manifestations of terrorism".

"There can be no justification for this brutal crime. We trust that its organisers and perpetrators will receive the punishment they deserve," the Russian embassy in India said on X.

After visiting the Taj Mahal, US Vice-President JD Vance spoke to reporters about Tuesday's attack.

"We're providing whatever assistance and help we can provide," Vance said, adding that he would be speaking to Prime Minister Modi later on Wednesday.

Image source, Information department, Agra

We have already reported that the attack took place while US Vice-President JD Vance has been touring India.

Vance and his wife Usha have condemned the attacks.

On Wednesday, Vance visited the iconic Taj Mahal in the northern Agra city with his family where they posed for a photograph in front of the monument.

Kamal Saini
BBC Punjabi, reporting from Karnal

Image source, Kamal Saini/BBC

Vinay Narwal, a 26-year-old Indian Navy officer, was on his honeymoon in Pahalgam when he was killed. He had married just last week, on 16 April.

A photo of Vinay's wife Himanshi, sitting near her husband's body, has been widely shared on social media after the attack.

"He wanted to go to Switzerland for his honeymoon but did not get a visa," says his grandfather Hawa Singh Narwal.

‘‘Had he not been shot, he might have managed to handle two or three people," his grandfather says. "He was a strong man."

Hawa Singh Narwal says he wants “exemplary punishment” for the killers of his grandson.

"This terrorism should end. Today, I lost my grandson. Tomorrow, someone else will lose their loved one.”

Image source, Amit Shah/X

Federal Home Minister Amit Shah paid his last respects to those killed in the Pahalgam terror attack and met some of the survivors on Wednesday.

Shah said the pain of losing loved ones “could not be expressed in words”, while assuring families that the attackers "would not be spared".

Photos shared on Shah's X page showed him meeting survivors and laying wreaths on the coffins of the victims.

"Bharat [India] will not bend to terror," he wrote on X. "The culprits of this dastardly terror attack will not be spared."

A video posted by news agency ANI showed some survivors bursting into tears as they met Shah.

Soutik Biswas
India Correspondent

The attack on tourists in Pahalgam comes at a time of high diplomatic visibility, coinciding with the visit of US Vice-President JD Vance to India.

This is not the first time militancy in Kashmir has overlapped with key US visits.

On 20 March, 2000 - just a day before then US president Bill Clinton arrived in India - 36 Sikh villagers were massacred in Chittisinghpora in Anantnag, allegedly by Pakistan-based militants.

The attack cast a dark shadow over Clinton’s visit, prompting then prime minister AB Vajpayee to raise Pakistan’s role directly with him.

Two years later, on 14 May 2002, during the then US Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca’s visit, militants struck again - this time in Kaluchak.

Armed men opened fire on a civilian bus and then attacked army family quarters, killing 23 people, including 10 children, and injuring 34 others.

These attacks, coinciding with high-level US engagements, reflect how militant groups in the region have used moments of international spotlight to send signals - testing both India's security response and the resilience of its diplomatic partnerships.

Ashok Dahal
BBC Nepali

The Nepalese embassy in Delhi has confirmed the death of one of its citizens in the attack.

The deceased was a resident of Butwal in western Nepal and had gone to Kashmir with his family for a holiday, the embassy said.

Relatives confirmed the deceased was a student named Sudip Neupane.

"Sudip had gone with his mother, sister and brother-in-law to India. The remaining three are said to be safe," Dadhiram Neupane, the victim's uncle who is travelling from Butwal to the capital, Kathmandu, to receive his nephew's body, said.

Surendra Thapa, deputy chief of mission at the Nepal Embassy in Delhi, said: "His mother also sustained injuries during their escape, but she is in a stable condition."

Earlier on Wednesday, Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli had condemned the attack and pledged to stand with India in the "fight against terrorism".

The BBC's Yogita Limaye reports from the ground as victims' bodies are transported from the police control room to the airport in Srinagar, the region's main city.

Azadeh Moshiri
Reporting from Islamabad

Image source, Getty Images

Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has denied that his country had any role in the Pahalgam killings.

Describing these as homegrown insurgencies against the Indian government, he said it was "easy" to blame Pakistan for the attack.

Asif instead accused India of interfering in Pakistan's affairs, which Delhi has firmly denied in the past.

Kashmir, which is claimed by both India and Pakistan, has seen a decades-long insurgency against Indian rule, which Delhi accuses Islamabad of helping to fund and support. Pakistan denies the charge.

Yogita Limaye
South Asia & Afghanistan correspondent

Traders in Kashmir have condemned the killings and are holding protests against it in the Lal Chowk area, the nerve centre of the region’s capital, Srinagar.

The protesters waved black flags and placards saying, “no to terrorism” and “stop killing innocents”. Referring to visiting tourists, they chanted, “end the killings of our guests”.

Nikhil Inamdar
Reporting from London

Tuesday’s brutal attack in Pahalgam comes just as the peak travel season in Kashmir is about to begin, and it could cripple the state’s tourism economy

Abhishek Sansare from Abhishek Holidays, a Mumbai-based agency that arranges group tours, told the BBC there was “panic” among some visitors who were already in the capital, Srinagar, and “fear and anger” among those slated to go later in the year.

“We’re getting many cancellation requests,” he said.

Airlines have added extra flights to Srinagar to support the rush of tourists wanting to return home.

Jammu and Kashmir has seen a massive surge in tourist arrivals after the state was stripped off its autonomous status in 2019, with over 23 million people visiting last year.

Prime Minister Modi announced a slew of projects worth 64bn rupees ($748m; £562m) to support local agriculture and tourism in a pre-election trip to the state last year.

A railway line connecting the Kashmir valley with the rest of the country is slated to be inaugurated by Modi later this year.

Image source, Getty Images