On April 22, a brutal terror assault in Baisaran, near Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir, led to the deaths of 26 civilians and left 17 others wounded. The serene hillscape turned into a scene of horror as gunmen, affiliated with The Resistance Front (TRF)—a proxy of Pakistan-supported Lashkar-e-Taiba—launched a sudden, indiscriminate attack on holidaymakers.

The victims, all male, were largely families on vacation from various parts of India and Nepal. Maharashtra suffered the most, losing six residents, followed by Gujarat and Karnataka with three casualties each. States including West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Haryana, and even Arunachal Pradesh reported one death apiece.

Among the deceased was Lt. Vinay Narwal, a 26-year-old Navy officer from Haryana, who was killed in front of his wife while they were enjoying street food. In Thane, Maharashtra, three cousins—Hemant Joshi, Atul Mone, and Sanjay Lele—who had embarked on a family holiday, also lost their lives.

Karnataka’s Manjunath Rao was gunned down while buying snacks for his son, who had just celebrated scoring 98% in his board exams. His wife, a bank employee, revealed that the assailants demanded some victims disclose their faith before shooting.

Those injured hail from multiple regions, including Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, and Hyderabad, with several still recovering. As bodies are returned home for last rites, the country mourns a devastating loss, and investigators search for deeper motives behind the calculated slaughter.