India says it has killed three militants behind Kashmir tourist massacre

By Rhea Mogul and Aishwarya S. Iyer, CNN
New Delhi (CNN) — Three militants responsible for a deadly attack on tourists in India-administered Kashmir earlier this year have been killed, a senior Indian official told lawmakers on Tuesday.
The massacre in April saw gunmen storm a scenic mountain spot in India-administered Kashmir, killing 26 people, mostly Indian tourists. The murder spree sparked outrage across India and triggered a brief but dangerous conflict between India and Pakistan.
The militants were killed in a joint operation called Operation Mahadev by the Indian Army, the Central Reserve Police Force and Jammu and Kashmir police officials on Monday, India’s Home Minister Amit Shah told parliament.
“Those who were responsible for killing our citizens in Baisaran Valley were these three terrorists and all three were killed,” Shah said.
He told lawmakers all three of those killed were Pakistani nationals.
CNN has contacted the Pakistani government for a response.
India blamed Pakistan for the attack, which Islamabad denied. New Delhi launched airstrikes on its neighbor in the weeks following, sparking a tit-for-tat military response that claimed lives on both sides of the border.
Shah said that India’s intelligence bureau had received information about the trio’s purported location in Dachigam National Park, on the outskirts of Srinagar city, in May and spent months confirming its veracity before moving in.
India’s government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been under immense pressure to find and punish those behind the tourist massacre.
The trio was killed on the same day the Indian parliament convened a special discussion on Operation Sindoor, the formal name given to India’s retaliatory action against Islamabad following the attack.
The disputed region of Kashmir has been a flashpoint in India-Pakistan relations since both countries gained their independence from Britain in 1947.
The two nations to emerge from the bloody partition of British India – Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan – both claim Kashmir in full, despite only controlling parts of it. Months after independence, they fought the first of their three wars over the territory.
The conflict that followed April’s massacre was India and Pakistan’s worst in decades, with both sides striking deep into the other’s territory.
After four days of fighting, a ceasefire between India and Pakistan was first announced by US President Donald Trump, who claimed Washington helped secure the deal. India denied US involvement in the talks.
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