India says gunmen behind Kashmir mass slaughter killed
The Kashmir mass killings sparked off a security clampdown in Srinagar. File photo: Reuters
Indian security forces have killed three gunmen who were involved in an attack on Hindu tourists in Indian Kashmir, home minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday.
The heavily-armed men were killed in a military operation on Monday, more than three months after 26 people were gunned down in a popular resort town of Indian Kashmir on April 22.
"I want to tell the parliament [that] those who attacked in Baisaran were three terrorists and all three have been killed," he said.
Shah identified two of the three killed as members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a UN-designated terrorist group based in Pakistan.
"Indian security agencies have detailed evidence of their involvement in the attack," he said in a speech in the lower house of parliament.
Monday's operation took place in the mountains of Dachigam, around 30 kilometres from the disputed region's main city of Srinagar, the army said in a statement.
The attack in April saw gunmen burst out of forests near Pahalgam and rake crowds of visitors with automatic weapons.
All those killed were listed as residents of India except one man from Nepal.
India accused Pakistan of backing the attackers, a charge Islamabad denied, sparking an intense four-day conflict between the nuclear-armed rivals in May that killed more than 70 people on both sides.
Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947, and the neighbours – who both claim the region in full – have fought two wars and several conflicts over its control. (AFP)
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