Trump offers condolences as gunmen claim 20 lives in Kashmir, India

President Donald Trump extended his “deepest sympathies” on Tuesday after gunmen reportedly killed at least 20 people in India’s Kashmir region. 

Trump expressed solidarity with India in the wake of troubling news from Kashmir, calling for support against terrorism. He conveyed prayers for the deceased and the recovery of the injured, extending support and sympathies to Prime Minister Modi and the people of India.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump had been briefed by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz on the matter. 

Leavitt announced Trump’s intention to speak with Prime Minister Modi promptly to offer condolences for the lives lost, highlighting the nation’s support for India in the face of terrorism. He emphasized the ongoing commitment to global peace and stability in light of such alarming incidents.

The country’s police also described the incident as a “terror attack” and blamed militants fighting against Indian rule. 

Omar Abdullah, a prominent political figure in the region, underscored the severity of the attack in Kashmir, labeling it as a significant tragedy surpassing recent civilian-targeted violence.

Indian security officers patrol in armored vehicles near Pahalgam in south Kashmir after assailants indiscriminately opened fired at tourists in Pahalgam, in Indian-controlled Kashmir, on Tuesday, April 22, 2025.  (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Two senior police officers said at least four gunmen, whom they described as militants, fired at dozens of tourists from close range, according to the Associated Press. The officers said at least three dozen others were injured, many in serious condition.

Most of the tourists killed were Indian, the officers reportedly told the AP on condition of anonymity, in keeping with departmental policy. 

Officials collected at least 20 bodies in Baisaran meadow, some three miles from the disputed region’s resort town of Pahalgam. 

The meadow in Pahalgam is a popular destination, surrounded by snow-capped mountains and dotted with pine forests. It is visited by hundreds of tourists every day as Kashmir, known for Himalayan foothills and exquisitely decorated houseboats, has become a major domestic tourist destination. It has drawn millions of visitors who enjoy a strange peace kept by ubiquitous security checkpoints, armored vehicles and patrolling soldiers.

Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Police and soldiers were searching for the attackers.

“We will come down heavily on the perpetrators with the harshest consequences,” India’s home minister, Amit Shah, wrote on social media. He arrived in Srinagar, the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir, and convened a meeting with top security officials. He said Modi, on an official visit in Saudi Arabia, has been briefed.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a key resistance politician and Kashmir’s top religious cleric, condemned what he described as a “cowardly attack on tourists,” writing on social media that “such violence is unacceptable and against the ethos of Kashmir which welcomes visitors with love and warmth.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.