2025 Pahalgam attack

The 2025 Pahalgam attack, also referred to as the 2025 Pahalgam massacre, was an Islamist terrorist attack on tourists by three armed terrorists near Pahalgam in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in which 26 civilians were killed on 22 April 2025. The militants targeted Hindu tourists, though a Christian tourist and a local Muslim pony ride operator were also killed. The attackers, armed with M4 carbines and AK-47s, entered the Baisaran Valley, a popular tourist spot, through the surrounding forests. This incident is considered the deadliest attack on civilians in India since the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Scholars and analysts contend that the specific targeting of Hindus, the high civilian casualty of the massacre and its barbarity was aimed at exploiting 'communal fault lines' and elicit a reaction from the Indian government, compelling the government to respond militarily.

The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of the Pakistan-based Islamist UN-designated terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), with a history of attacks on religious minorities, initially claimed responsibility for the attack. It did so twice, on both the day of the attack and the next day. TRF released a statement that the attack was in opposition to non-local settlement in the region resulting from the abolition of the special status of Kashmir. After a few days, TRF denied its involvement in the attack.

The militants singled out the men and asked for their religion before shooting the Hindu and Christian tourists. The attackers also asked some tourists to recite the Islamic kalima, a Muslim declaration of faith, to identify non-Muslims. Of the 26 people killed, 25 were tourists, and one was a local Muslim pony ride operator who tried to wrestle a gun from the attackers. The tourists included several newlywed couples, and the men were shot point-blank in front of their wives.