India’s home minister said Tuesday that three suspected militants who were killed in a gunfight in disputed Kashmir a day earlier were responsible for the gun massacre in the region that led to a military clash between India and Pakistan.
Amit Shah said the three men were Pakistani nationals and were killed in a joint operation by the military, paramilitary and police Monday on the outskirts of Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar. Shah made the remarks in India’s lower house of the parliament, and The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify the details.
The April gun massacre killed 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists. New Delhi blamed the attack on Pakistan, which denied responsibility.
It led to tit-for-tat military strikes by India and Pakistan that brought the nuclear-armed rivals to the brink of their third war over the region. Dozens of people were killed on both sides until a ceasefire was reached.
The four-day fighting between the nuclear-armed rivals was their worst in decades.
