India: Violence in Jammu and Kashmir; four killed Aug. 22

Event

Three members of the Jammu and Kashmir state police were killed and one member of the ruling BJP political party was abducted and murdered on Wednesday, August 22, in a series of attacks perpetrated in the Kashmir Valley. The attacks, which coincided with the Muslim Eid holiday, occurred in Pulwama (south of Srinagar) and Kulgam.

Context

Jammu and Kashmir is the only Muslim-majority state in Hindu-majority India. After independence from colonial rule (August 1947), India and Pakistan fought a war over the region of Kashmir. An insurgency started in the Indian Kashmir Valley in the late 1980s.

Advice

As a reminder, Western governments advise their citizens against travel to parts of Kashmir, notably areas along the Line of Control (LoC), due to the significant risk of violence.