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Agence France-Presse

Soldiers in India-administered Kashmir on Friday blew up the family homes of two men who police allege were among a gang that carried out the region’s deadliest attack against civilians for decades.
Armed police and soldiers searched homes and forests for the militants responsible for killing 26 men in a meadow in the tourist resort of Pahalgam on Tuesday.
India’s army chief also visited the area to review security amid a giant manhunt for those responsible for the deaths.
Police say the killers are members of the Pakistani-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), designated a terrorist organisation by the United Nations.
Officers have issued wanted posters with sketches of three men: Indian national Adil Hussain Thoker, as well as Pakistani citizens Ali Bhai and Hashim Musa.
They are also searching for Indian citizen Asif Sheikh.


The militant attack triggered outrage and grief in India, along with calls for action against neighbour Pakistan, whom New Delhi accuses of funding and encouraging terrorism in Kashmir, a region both nations claim and have fought two wars over.
The two countries both claim Muslim-majority Kashmir in full, but rule it in part. India, a Hindu majority nation, has long accused Islamic Pakistan of aiding separatists who have battled security forces in its part of the territory, accusations that Islamabad denies.
The nuclear-armed nations have unleashed a raft of measures against each other, with India keeping a critical river water-sharing treaty in abeyance and Pakistan closing its airspace to Indian airlines, among other steps.
“We will ensure that not a single drop of the Indus river’s water reaches Pakistan,” said India’s Water Resources Minister C.R. Paatil on Friday, in a post on X.
Families questioned
Members of the two Indian fugitives’ immediate families were detained for questioning after Tuesday’s attack, the officer and their relatives said.
Sheikh’s sister Yasmeena said soldiers cordoned off the area around the house, in Kashmir’s southern Tral area, overnight from Thursday to Friday.
“One soldier climbed over the mud compound wall of our home, and climbed back after a while,” said Yasmeena, who gave only one name.
“After some time, a big frightening blast brought the house down. Everything inside is destroyed,” she said, adding that no one was inside at the time.
A police officer said soldiers also destroyed Thokar’s family home in the neighbouring Bijbehara area in the same manner early on Friday.




Police said they were part of a LeT faction called The Resistance Front (TRF).
“Both have been active for three to four years, and are part of TRF which is an offshoot of LeT,” said a police intelligence officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
“They are wanted militants involved in earlier attacks as well on security forces,” the officer added.
Police have offered a two million rupees (US$23,500) bounty for information leading to each man’s arrest.
Longer flights
Flights from India to Europe, Canada and the US will take about two hours longer and airlines will be forced to cut payloads after Pakistan closed its airspace to carriers from its neighbouring nation.
In a tit-for-tat measure after India downgraded ties in response to Tuesday’s attack, Pakistan’s prime minister’s office said in a statement that the country’s National Security Committee has decided to close its airspace to Indian airlines. A formal order has not yet been issued.
The restriction is set to impact the operations of Air India, which has the most medium- and long-haul flights to the west and IndiGo, the country’s largest carrier, which plans to launch direct flights to Europe from July.

“The impact will be on ultra-long range flights in terms of time and payload carriage limitations, which would mean more fuel burn, thus, increasing the cost of operations,” said P.P. Singh, a senior manager at former carrier Jet Airways.
“The airspace over the Persian Gulf, which will provide an alternative route, is already limited and congested and that may further add to flight delays.”
Pakistan previously closed its airspace for about five months in 2019 after India struck an alleged terrorist training camp following another terror attack.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg, Reuters


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India destroys homes of 2 Kashmir attack suspects

Women in the village of Tral in Kashmir walk past the demolished family home of Asif Sheikh, suspected of involvement in Tuesday’s deadly attack on tourists in Pahalgam. The houses of two suspected militants were destroyed by India’s security services. Photo: EPA-EFE

Relatives and neighbours outside the family home of Asif Sheikh, suspected of involvement in the Pahalgam attack. Photo: EPA-EFE

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Indian security officers inspect the site where militants indiscriminately opened fire on tourists on Tuesday in Pahalgam, Indian controlled Kashmir, Wednesday. Photo: AP

People offer prayers at the funeral of Adil Hussain Shah on Wednesday. Adil was killed in a suspected militant attack near Pahalgam on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi (left) is accompanied by Makkah Region Deputy Governor Prince Saud bin Mishal bin Abdulaziz as he cuts his two-day trip short to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, Photo: Reuters

A member of Indian security personnel stands guard on a highway leading to South Kashmir’s Pahalgam, following a suspected militant attack, on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

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An Indian Border Security Force personnel checks passports of Pakistan citizens returning to their country through the India-Pakistan Wagah border post on Thursday. Photo: AFP

Indian Border Security Force soldiers stand guard at the entrance of the India-Pakistan Wagah border post. Photo: AFP

Protesters clash with security personnel during a protest march towards the Pakistan High Commission condemning the Pahalgam tourist attack, in New Delhi on Thursday. Photo: AFP

At least 26 killed in ‘heinous’ attack on tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir

Indian security officers stand guard in south Kashmir after assailants opened fired at tourists. Photo: AP

Paramedics carry a wounded tourist on a stretcher at a hospital in Anantnag after an attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Indian security officers stands guard at a hospital in Anantnag after assailants indiscriminately fired at tourists visiting Pahalgam, Indian-controlled Kashmir on Tuesday. Photo: AP

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News

Asia

South Asia

Amid much tension between India and Pakistan, there is a massive hunt under way for the militant gang responsible for murdering 26 men in the tourist resort of Pahalgam


Amid much tension between India and Pakistan, there is a massive hunt under way for the militant gang responsible for murdering 26 men in the tourist resort of Pahalgam.


Pakistan

Kashmir

War and conflict

Terrorism