Srinagar: Two foreigners are among at least 26 people, most of them tourists, who have been killed, while several others have been injured in a Pahalgam health resort on Tuesday (April 22) in one of the worst targeted attacks on civilians in Jammu and Kashmir. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was on a two-day state visit to Saudi Arabia, cut it short.The nature of the deadly attack – which took place barely a fortnight after the Union home minister Amit Shah reviewed the preparedness of security forces in the Union territory – and the high number of casualties is likely to build pressure on the BJP-led Union government to act against the perpetrators, who are believed to be from Pakistan.The nationality of the foreigners killed in the attack and the identities of the other deceased, some of whom are believed to be from Karnataka, Maharashtra and Odisha, were not immediately available.There has been no official statement about the attack at the time this report was filed.Shah has reportedly landed in Srinagar and he is headed to Pahalgam, one of the two base camps for the upcoming Amarnath yatra, along with a team of the National Investigation Agency, which is likely to take over the probe into the case.“The 26 dead included two foreigners and two locals,” PTI news agency quoted a high ranking official as saying. The official did not provide more details. By April 23, reports noted that 25 tourists and one local had been killed.An injured receives treatment after terrorists attacked a group of tourists in Pahalgam. Photo: PTI.The attack was claimed by The Resistance Front (TRF), which is believed by officials to be an offshoot of the Pakistan-based proscribed militant outfit Lashkar-e-Tayyiba.In a statement, the TRF sought to justify the attack as a retaliation against the alleged “demographic change” in Jammu and Kashmir.Referring to the recent disclosure in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly that 83,742 domicile certificates have been issued to non-locals in Jammu and Kashmir over the past two years, the outfit said that non-locals “arrive posing as tourists, obtain domiciles and then begin to act as if they own the land.”“Consequently, violence will be directed against those attempting to settle illegally [in Jammu and Kashmir],” a TRF statement that circulated on social media said. The Wire cannot confirm its authenticity.Having arrived in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday afternoon, Modi, who was scheduled to return to India tomorrow, decided to cut his trip short in light of the attack. He left Jeddah for India after bilateral engagements with Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman. Notably, Modi didn’t fly over Pakistan during his return trip to India from Saudi Arabia.Following his arrival in in India, Modi held a meeting with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Wednesday (April 23) morning in New Delhi, reported PTI.The Pahalgam attack took place at a time when US Vice President J.D. Vance is on a four-day tour of India. Many have drawn a parallel to the Chittisinghpura massacre in which at least 35 Sikh villagers were gunned down on March 20, 2000 in the Chittisinghpura village of Anantnag district on the eve of then-US president Bill Clinton’s state visit to India.A senior police official said that the attack took place at around 2:50 pm on Tuesday in the Baisaran meadow, a popular offbeat destination at the end of a rugged, seven kilometre-long trail from the Pahalgam bus stand.Witnesses told The Wire that the meadow, which is not serviced by road and can be reached by hike, on horseback or by chopper, was buzzing with tourists as the weather had improved on Tuesday after many days of rains and thunderstorms that wreaked havoc across Kashmir.The gunmen, believed to be two to three in number according to police, hiked down from a range of mountains in Baisaran that are covered with lush pine trees and opened fire at the visitors.As officials have kept the details under wraps, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah posted on X that the attack was “much larger than anything we’ve seen directed at civilians in recent years”.At least two victims were brought to the Anantnag district hospital in a critical state at around 4:30 pm today. Two more victims were taken to a nearby medical centre, where their condition is reported to be stable.Some of the critically injured victims were flown in choppers to a military base hospital in Srinagar for specialised treatment.People wait outside the Government Medical College and Associated Hospital, Anantnag, where people injured in the Pahalgam terror attack are being treated. Photo: PTI.The identity of the deceased has not been confirmed so far. A group of foreign hikers were visiting the area at the time of the firing, reports said.A video that circulated on social media showed a young woman in tears narrating her ordeal to a man who sounds like a Kashmiri man.“I was eating bhelpuri [a popular snack] with my husband when a man came and shot him. He [the gunman] said he was perhaps not a Muslim and that is why he shot him,” she cried.A middle-aged woman with a blood-smeared face and an anguished teenager can also be seen in the video, while the Kashmiri man can be heard assuring the victims that they had nothing to be afraid of and that he was going to stay with them.“Please save my husband. For god’s sake, save him,” another woman screams at him.At some distance, a young man wearing a camouflage shirt can be seen lying motionless on the ground in a bloodied state while a local horseman with a phone hooked to his ear passes by.A woman with blood on her face is seen in the video. Photo: Screengrab.The camera then turns to the meadow, where two to three persons can be seen also lying on the ground motionless at some distance from each other.“Brother, please help us. Please ask for help. His condition is bad,” another young woman says of her husband to the man shooting the video, who in turn offers them water as the 49-second video comes to end.Soon after the news reached the district headquarters, a team of civil and police officials from Anantnag rushed to the meadow.A cordon and search operation also involving the army was launched in the area following the attack. Choppers were seen hovering over the area purportedly to trace the attackers, witnesses said.The attack has triggered a wave of anxiety and fears in the popular south Kashmir health resort as some believe it could deal a blow to the tourism sector.According to one report, a woman, who is believed to be among the victims, rang up the police control room to report the attack, stating that her husband had been hit in the head and that six or seven more tourists were injured in the attack. The Wire could not immediately verify the report.“My husband was shot in the head while seven others were also injured in the attack,” the unidentified woman told PTI over phone, pleading for help in evacuating the injured.President Droupadi Murmu condemned the attack. According to another PTI report, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a telephonic conversation with Shah about the attack. He asked Shah to take “all suitable measures” and “visit the site”, the agency reported, quoting government sources.Abdullah, lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha, Peoples’ Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti, Jammu and Kashmir Congress president Tariq Karra, Peoples’ Conference chief Sajad Lone, senior BJP leader Ravinder Raina and other political leaders also condemned the attack.A previous version of the story had inadvertently quoted a woman victim saying that her husband was targeted because the attackers assumed that he was a Muslim. However, the woman can be heard saying that he was targeted for not being a Muslim. The error is regretted.This is a developing story and is being updated.