PM Modi cuts short Saudi visit after terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday decided to cut short his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia, hours after a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir killed 26 people, mostly tourists.

Government sources said that Prime Minister Modi skipped the official dinner hosted by Saudi Arabia and has decided to cut short his visit.

Modi will now leave for India on Tuesday night, instead of Wednesday as originally planned, they added.

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.

 

The 26 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".

 

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, officials said.

 

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 just picnicking, officials and eyewitnesses said. At least 20 people were injured in the strike in the volatile Kashmir Valley where tourists have so far mostly been spared.