Twenty-seven tourists were feared dead in an attack by suspected militants in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam on Tuesday, police officials, who declined to be identified, told Scroll.

More than six others were injured in the attack in the Baisaran area. Baisaran is located nearly four km from the tourist spot of Pahalgam in Anantnag district.

The details of the attack and casualties were not clear.

The police and the Indian Army to find the militants, the lieutenant governor’s office said.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said that the attack on tourists was an abomination and that the deaths . “Needless to say this attack is much larger than anything we’ve seen directed at civilians in recent years,” he added.

“The perpetrators of this , inhuman and worthy of contempt,” Abdullah said on social media. “No words of condemnation are enough.”

Muhammad Saleem, a shawl seller in Baisaran, told Scroll that the firing started at around 2.30 pm.

“I couldn’t see anything, I felt as if I had gone blind,” Saleem said. “We left our stuff there and ran for our lives. The firing continued for more than 45 minutes.”

Saleem added: “On an average there are more than 2,000 to 3,000 tourists in Baisaran on any given day. But today, there weren’t many tourists. Otherwise, the...