Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday vowed a “loud and clear response” a day after the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 persons and left 17 others injured.

Here is more on this and other top updates:

  • Singh on Wednesday chaired a high-level security review, The Times of India reported. The meeting involved the Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, and the chiefs of the Army, Navy and the Air Force. A meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security, the highest decision-making body on matters of national security, will take place later on Wednesday, NDTV reported.
  • “I want to assure the countrymen that the government will take every necessary step,” ANI quoted Singh as saying at an event. “We will not only reach the perpetrators of this act but also the actors behind the scenes...The accused will soon see a loud and clear response, I want to assure the country.”
  • Pakistan’s foreign ministry on Wednesday said that Islamabad was “concerned at the loss of tourists’ lives” in the attack. This came hours after Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khwaja Asif claimed on Tuesday that his country was not involved in the attack. “We have absolutely nothing to do with it,” Asif told Pakistani channel 92 News. “We reject terrorism in all its forms and everywhere.”
  • However, The Indian Express quoted unidentified Indian security officials as saying that initial investigation has suggested the presence of foreigners in the group of militants who carried out the attack.
  • The civil aviation ministry on Wednesday asked airlines to ensure that there was no surge in fares on route to and from Srinagar. Air India and IndiGo will operate additional flights from Srinagar to Delhi and Mumbai on Wednesday, The New Indian Express reported.
  • The Indian Railways deployed a special train from Katra to New Delhi to meet the demand created by tourists attempting to leave the Union Territory after the attack.

The attack took place on Tuesday in the Baisaran area, which is located nearly 4 km from the tourist spot of Pahalgam in Anantnag district.

Two to three militants fired indiscriminately at a group of tourists, most of whom were from outside the state.

Of those who died, six were from Maharashtra, three each from Gujarat and Karnataka, two from West Bengal, and one each from Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chandigarh, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Kerala. One of those who died was from Nepal.

This is the first major terrorist attack targeting civilians in Kashmir since the Union government revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in 2019.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday arrived in New Delhi after cutting short his Saudi Arabia visit. Modi held a meeting with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar at the Delhi airport.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah arrived in Pahalgam on Wednesday, where he met the survivors of the attack and paid homage to those who lost their lives. He also visited the site of the attack.

Also read: Security forces foil infiltration bid in J&K’s Baramulla, day after Pahalgam terror attack