By Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) – Militants who killed 26 people in India’s Kashmir region separated the men from the women and children and asked the men their names before shooting them at close range, security officials and survivors said on Wednesday.
About 1,000 tourists and 300 local service providers were in the Baisaran Valley – known as mini Switzerland for its lush hilltop meadow, surrounded by dense pine forests – when three gunmen launched the Tuesday attack, the worst in India in nearly two decades.
The heavily-armed attackers roamed around the grasslands and fired 60 rounds of ammunition, but did not shoot women and children, a security official, who did not want to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media, said. His account was based on conversations with survivors.
Asavari Jagdale, from India’s western state of Maharashtra, lost her father and uncle in the attack. She told local media that she and her family hid inside a nearby tent along with other tourists when the shooting started.
When the militants reached their tent, Asavari said they asked her father, Santosh Jagdale, to come out and recite an Islamic verse.
“When he failed to do so, they pumped three bullets into him, one on the head, one behind the ear and another in the back,” she said. “My uncle was next to me. The terrorists fired four to five bullets into him.”
SAVED BY CHANTING ISLAMIC VERSES
Debasish Bhattacharyya, a Hindu who teaches at Assam University and who grew up in a Muslim neighbourhood in the state, said he was familiar with Islamic verses. The militants ordered him and those nearby onto their knees and when the others started chanting the verses, he followed along.
“I knew the words and, at that moment, it was probably the only way to save our lives. Those who failed, were killed,” he told Reuters, adding that they fled when the gunmen left and trekked through a forest for two hours to survive.
The attackers were dressed in traditional long shirts and loose trousers and one of them was wearing a bodycam, a security source said, adding that the militants opened fire at three spots across the Baisaran Valley, a popular tourist destination.
Some tourists were shot at the eateries located in the meadow, while some were taken to the forests and shot there, the security source said.
Visitors have to trek or hire ponies to reach Baisaran, situated about 4 km (about 2.5 miles) from the Pahalgam area of the Himalayan federal territory.
It offers adventure sports facilities such as ziplining and zorbing and also serves as a campsite for trekkers trying to reach Tulian Lake, an alpine lake situated around 11 km from Baisaran.
Prashant Satpathy, his wife and nine-year-old son had traveled from the eastern state of Odisha and were on the last day of their four-day trip.
They had just completed a zipline ride when a bullet hit Satpathy on his head, his wife, Priyadarshini, told local media. “He collapsed before my eyes,” she said.
Adil Hussain Shah, a pony ride operator from Pahalgam, was also among the 26 dead in the attack.
“We have heard that he did not die just like that, he was displaying bravery… this was a person who tried to stop the attack, and maybe also tried to grab the gun, that is why he was targeted,” Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah told reporters after visiting Shah’s family on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Fayaz Bukhari; additional reporting by Sakshi Dayal in New Delhi, Jatindra Dash in Bhubaneshwar and Saurabh Sharma in Lucknow; Writing by Sudipto Ganguly; editing by Sharon Singleton)
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