NEW DELHI (AP/UNB) — A brutal gun attack on a group of tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir left at least 26 dead and more than a dozen wounded on Tuesday, marking the region’s deadliest civilian assault in years.

The shooting took place in the picturesque town of Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir. Police labeled it a “terror attack,” blaming militants opposed to Indian rule, although no group has claimed responsibility yet.

The massacre unfolded while U.S. Vice President JD Vance was visiting India, drawing grim parallels to a 2000 massacre of 36 Sikhs that occurred just before ex-President Bill Clinton's arrival.

Kashmir, long mired in conflict, has seen a string of deadly militant attacks over the past 25 years, including:

March 2000: 36 Sikhs killed in Chittisinghpora hours before Clinton's India visit.
August 2000: 32 pilgrims killed in an attack on the Amarnath Yatra.
October 2001: Suicide bombing at Jammu-Kashmir Assembly kills 36.
May 2002: 36 civilians and army personnel killed in Kaluchak during Rocca’s India visit.
March 2003: 24 minority Hindus murdered in Nadimarg.
September 2016: 19 soldiers killed in Uri army base attack.
February 2019: 40 paramilitary troops killed in Pulwama suicide bombing.
June 2024: Nine pilgrims killed in a bus attack en route to a Hindu shrine.
This latest bloodshed adds to the long and tragic history of violence in the disputed Himalayan territory, where insurgents have waged a decades-long fight against Indian rule.