SRINAGAR – Security has been beefed up across Indian-controlled Kashmir a day after an attack killed at least 26 people, most of them tourists, as Indian forces launched a manhunt for the perpetrators of one of the deadliest attacks in the restive Himalayan region.

As investigators began probing the attack, many shops and businesses in Kashmir closed to protest the killings following a call from the region’s religious and political parties.

Tens of thousands of armed police and soldiers fanned out across the region and erected additional checkpoints. They searched cars and in some areas summoned former militants to police stations for questioning, reports said.

Police called it a “terror attack” and blamed militants fighting against Indian rule. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Global condemnation for Tuesday’s rare attack on the tourists came swiftly, while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi cut short his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia and returned to New Delhi early Wednesday.

Officials said 24 of the people killed were Indian tourists, one was from Nepal and one was a local tourist guide. At least 17 others were injured.

Kashmir has seen tourism boom depite spate of attacks

Kashmir has seen a spate of deadly attacks on Hindus, including immigrant workers from Indian states, since New Delhi ended the region’s semi-autonomy in 2019 and drastically curbed dissent, civil liberties and media freedoms.

New Delhi has vigorously pushed tourism and claimed it as a sign of normalcy returning, and the region has drawn millions of visitors who enjoy its Himalyan foothills and exquisitely decorate houseboats amid a strange peace kept by ubiquitous security checkpoints, armored vehicles and patrolling soldiers. Until Tuesday, tourists were not targeted.

Following the attack, panicked tourists started to leave Kashmir.

Monojit Debnath, a tourist from Indian city of Kolkata, said Kashmir was undoubtedly beautiful but his family did not feel secure anymore.

“We are tourists, and we should think about what safety we have here for us,” Debnath told the Press Trust of India news agency as he was leaving Srinagar, the region’s main city, with his family.

Powerful home minister visits

On Wednesday, India’s powerful home minister Amit Shah attended a ceremony at a police control room in Srinagar, where the slain tourists were paid floral tributes. He also met families of several victims.

Shah vowed to “come down heavily on the perpetrators with the harshest consequences.”

Later, Shah visited the site of the killing at Baisaran meadow, some 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the resort town of Pahalgam.

The meadow in Pahalgam is a popular destination, surrounded by snow-capped mountains and dotted with pine forests. It is visited by hundreds of tourists every day.

Kashmir has been divided for decades

Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan each administer a part of Kashmir but both claim the territory in its entirety.

Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.

India describes militancy in Kashmir as Pakistan-backed terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and many Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.

India has used heavy-handed tactics to maintain its control over the region that include giving the armed forces widespread powers to arrest, torture and summarily execute suspects, human rights groups say.

In March 2000, at least 35 civilians were shot and killed in a southern village in Kashmir while then-U.S. President Bill Clinton was visiting India.

In 2019, months before New Delhi revoked the region’s autonomy, a militant attack killed at least 40 paramilitary soldiers that brought India and Pakistan close to a war.

Violence has ebbed in recent times in the Kashmir Valley, the heart of anti-India rebellion. Fighting between government forces and rebels has largely shifted to remote areas of Jammu region, including Rajouri, Poonch and Kathua, where Indian troops have faced deadly attacks.