Attack on tourists in India's Kashmir kills 28

28 people were killed when militants opened fire at tourists in India's Jammu and Kashmir territory, The Hindu reported citing Indian authorities.

It was the worst attack on civilians in India since the 2008 Mumbai shootings.

Indian authorities are treating the shooting as a terror attack.

The attack took place on Tuesday in a meadow in the Pahalgam area of the scenic, Himalayan federal territory. The victims are mostly Indians. 

Two foreign tourists are among the victims.

A number of others were wounded, including with critical injuries.

There was no official casualty data from the government. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi cut short his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia and returned to New Delhi on Wednesday morning.

Jammu and Kashmir chief Minister Omar Abdullah used strong words to condemn the attack. “This attack is much larger than anything we’ve seen directed at civilians in recent years. I’m shocked beyond belief. This attack on our visitors is an abomination. The perpetrators of this attack are animals, inhuman and worthy of contempt. No words of condemnation are enough,” Mr. Abdullah said, according to The Hindu. 

A little-known militant group, the "Kashmir Resistance," claimed responsibility for the attack in a social media message. It expressed discontent that more than 85,000 "outsiders" had been settled in the region, spurring a "demographic change,” Reuters reported. 

Indian security agencies say Kashmir Resistance is a front for Pakistan-based militant organisations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen. Pakistan has said it only provides moral and diplomatic support to the insurgency in Kashmir.

"We are concerned at the loss of tourists’ lives," Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan said in a statement. "We extend our condolences to the near ones of the deceased and wish the injured a speedy recovery."

Militant violence has afflicted Muslim-majority Kashmir, claimed in full but ruled in part by both mostly Hindu India and Islamic Pakistan, since the anti-Indian insurgency began in 1989, Reuters reported.  Tens of thousands of people have been killed, although violence has tapered off in recent years.

India revoked Kashmir's special status in 2019, splitting the state into two federally administered territories - Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. The move allowed local authorities to issue domicile rights to outsiders, allowing them to get jobs and buy land in the territory.

That led to a deterioration of ties with Pakistan, which also claims the region.