New Delhi: An Intelligence Bureau (IB), a Navy officer and an Indian Air Force corporal were among the at least 26 killed in Tuesday’s terrorist attack at a tourist spot in Kashmir’s Pahalgam, according to the latest list of fatalities prepared by authorities.
Official records confirm that Manish Ranjan, a section officer-rank official of India’s internal intelligence agency posted at Hyderabad, was killed in the attack. Ranjan, who was on a holiday in Pahalgam with his wife and their two children, was allegedly shot in the head, while his family just survived the attack.
The Navy Lieutenant killed in the attack was 26-year-old Vinay Narwal from Haryana’s Karnal. He was posted in Kochi and had got married less than a week ago. Following the attack, he was taken to a hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival.
Also killed in the attack was Tage Hailyang, a Corporal rank officer of the Indian Air Force from Arunachal Pradesh.
Arunachal Chief Minister Pema Khandu took to X to say that Hailyang belonged to Tajang village in Lower Subansiri district, confirming that he was killed in the attack in Pahalgam, where he was present with his wife.
ThePrint earlier reported that a group of at least six terrorists, including two Kashmiri locals trained in Pakistan, opened fire on tourists assembled in the Baisaran Valley, a popular destination which sees hundreds of tourists visit daily on horseback.
The Kashmiri terrorists involved in the attack had gone to Pakistan for training in 2017 and infiltrated with the last batch of foreign terrorists, the sources told ThePrint.
The ghastly terror attack was first reported to the local police around 2.45 pm by a woman, prompting a joint security team of personnel from the Army, Jammu and Kashmir Police and the CRPF rushing to the spot and cordoning off the area.
This is the worst terrorist attack on civilians in Jammu and Kashmir in decades.
Condemning the attack, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah wrote on X, “This attack on our visitors is an abomination. The perpetrators of this attack are animals, inhuman & worthy of contempt. No words of condemnation are enough. I send my sympathies to the families of the deceased.”
On Tuesday evening, Union Home Minister Amit Shah landed in Srinagar and chaired a review meeting of top security officials. Among those who attended the meeting were Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and CM Omar Abdullah.
This is an updated version of the report
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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