'They came from forest, asked for names and killed men': Pahalgam terror attack survivors tell how it happened

Tuesday began as a regular day at Baisaran, a lovely meadow surrounded by lush trees in Pahalgam, south Kashmir. The number of tourists in the region was between 1,000 and 1,500, which is slightly lower than typical.

Tourists continued to arrive throughout the day.  The terrorists quickly followed suit.

Vinay Bai, a Gujarat native, had just entered the meadow when the gunshots rang out.

“I was on a pony, about to enter Baisaran, when there were gunshots. People started to run for their lives,” an officer quoted him as saying. “As I tried to escape, a bullet hit me in the elbow. I don’t know where it came from

Police officers who met with the survivors said they provided detailed details of how the incident occurred.

“Three to four men in ‘uniform’ descended from the dense forests. They asked for our names. We thought they were policemen ,” a female survivor told an officer. “Suddenly, they opened fire on the men and left the women unharmed. They shot some of the men from point-blank range .

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Those who attempted to run were also shot down when the terrorists unleashed indiscriminate fire, they said.

An officer said that one of the survivors told them that on hearing the gunshots, they ran to the tents pitched nearby. “He said that the attackers soon made their way to a tent adjacent to theirs and asked a man to come out. He said they talked to him, and then shot him,” the officer added.

Another officer stated that the survivors’ reports suggest that the terrorists were there in the area for an extended period of time before fleeing.  “It seemed like an eternity,” one of the visitors told investigators.  “They were there at least for 20 minutes, undeterred, moving around and opening fire.”

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Baisaran Valley is six and a half km from Pahalgam but only accessible by foot or pony ride.  Pahalgam and Baisaran valley are connected by a six-kilometre dirt route.

With no automobiles available, merchants and tourist guides assisted in transporting the injured to Pahalgam using horses.

“By the time police arrived in Baisaran, the terrorists were long gone,” a victim told me.