Dozens of tourist resorts in Indian-controlled Kashmir are closed after deadly attack

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Authorities in Indian-controlled Kashmir temporarily closed dozens of the tourist resorts in the scenic Himalayan region after last week’s deadly attack on tourists raised tensions between India and Pakistan and led to an intensifying security crackdown in Kashmir.

At least two police officers and three administrative officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with departmental policy, said Tuesday that the decision to shut 48 of the 87 government-authorized resorts was a safety precaution. They did not specify how long these places would be out of bounds for visitors.

The decision comes a week after gunmen killed 26 people, most of them Indian tourists, near the resort town of Pahalgam.

The massacre set off tit-for-tat diplomatic measures between India and Pakistan that included cancellation of visas and a recall of diplomats. New Delhi also suspended a crucial water sharing treaty with Islamabad and ordered its border shut with Pakistan. In response, Pakistan has closed its airspace to Indian airlines.

India has described the massacre as a “terror attack” and accused Pakistan of backing it. Pakistan has denied any connection to the attack, and it was claimed by a previously unknown militant group calling itself the Kashmir Resistance.

Some tourists who survived the massacre have told Indian media that the gunmen singled out Hindu men and shot them from close range. The dead included a Nepalese citizen and a local Muslim pony ride operator.

Kashmir is split between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in its entirety. New Delhi describes all militancy in Indian-controlled Kashmir as Pakistan-backed terrorism. Pakistan denies this, and many Muslim Kashmiris consider the militants to be part of a home-grown freedom struggle.

As tensions escalate, cross-border firing between soldiers of India and Pakistan has also increased along the Line of Control, the de facto frontier that separates Kashmiri territory between the two rivals. On Tuesday, the Indian army in a statement said it had responded to “unprovoked” small arms fire from multiple Pakistan army posts for a fifth consecutive night.

The incidents could not be independently verified. In the past, each side has accused the other of starting border skirmishes in the Himalayan region.

Early Wednesday, Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Islamabad had credible intelligence that India intended to carry out military action against Pakistan in the next 24-36 hours over the “baseless and concocted allegations of involvement” in the Pahalgam attack.

He said in the statement that Pakistan would respond to any such action and the responsibility for any consequences of the escalation lay with India.

Indian officials had no immediate comment.

The U.S. State Department called for deescalation and said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio would be speaking soon to the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers.

Pakistani troops shot down a small Indian spy drone that flew hundreds of meters into Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, three Pakistani security officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity as they weren’t allowed to speak to the media. The drone was shot down on Monday in the border town of Bhimber, they said.

Meanwhile, government forces in the region have detained and questioned nearly 2,000 people, officials and residents said. Many of the detained are former rebels fighting against Indian rule and others who officials describe as “over ground workers” of militants, a term authorities use for civilians suspected of associating with insurgents.

Indian soldiers have demolished the family homes of at least nine suspected militants across Kashmir, using explosives.

The region’s top pro-India leaders have supported action against suspected militants but also questioned the demolitions.

Omar Abdullah, the region’s chief minister, said Monday that any heavy-handed tactics against civilians should be avoided. “We should not take any step that will alienate people,” Abdullah told the region’s lawmakers during a legislative session.

Ruhullah Mehdi, a lawmaker from the region in India’s national parliament, termed the demolitions of homes as “collective punishment.”

Indian tourism has flourished in Kashmir after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government promoted visits to the region with the hope of showing rising tourism numbers as a sign of renewed stability there.

Millions of visitors arrive in Kashmir to see its Himalayan foothills and exquisitely decorated houseboats, despite regular skirmishes between insurgents and government forces. According to official data, close to 3 million tourists visited the region in 2024, a rise from 2.71 million visitors in 2023 and 2.67 million in 2022.

But last week's attack has left many tourists scared and some have left the region. Widespread cancellations are also being reported by tour operators, with some estimates putting the number at more than 1 million.

Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Indian paramilitary soldiers patrol as they guard at a busy market in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Indian paramilitary soldiers patrol as they guard at a busy market in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Indian paramilitary soldiers patrol as tourists take pictures at a busy market in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Indian paramilitary soldiers patrol as they guard at a busy market in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Indian paramilitary soldiers patrol as they guard at a busy market in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Indian national Komal breaks down while seeing off her brother and his wife, both Pakistani citizens, at the Attari-Wagah border between India and Pakistan, near Amritsar, India, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Prabhjot Gill)

Pakistani national Khalida Hanif, right, and her Indian children display their passports on their return from Pakistan at the Attari-Wagah border between India and Pakistan, near Amritsar, India, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Prabhjot Gill)

Indian paramilitary soldiers patrol as they guard at a busy market in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

A locked garden gate is seen in Srinagar after it was closed by authorities as a precautionary safety measure following last week's deadly attack on tourists near the resort town of Pahalgam, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

An Indian paramilitary soldier talks with tourists outside a garden in Srinagar after it was closed by authorities as a precautionary safety measure following last week's deadly attack on tourists near the resort town of Pahalgam, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

A locked garden gate is seen in Srinagar after it was closed by authorities as a precautionary safety measure following last week's deadly attack on tourists near the resort town of Pahalgam, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

An Indian paramilitary soldier guards outside a garden in Srinagar after it was closed by authorities as a precautionary safety measure following last week's deadly attack on tourists near the resort town of Pahalgam, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

A locked garden gate is seen in Srinagar after it was closed by authorities as a precautionary safety measure following last week's deadly attack on tourists near the resort town of Pahalgam, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Indian paramilitary soldiers guard inside a Mughal garden on the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Sunday, April. 27, 2025.(AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

An Indian paramilitary soldier stands guard inside a Mughal garden on the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Sunday, April. 27, 2025.(AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A Texas man was executed Tuesday evening, 13 years to the day of a convenience store robbery in which he set a clerk on fire in a Dallas suburb.

Matthew Lee Johnson, 49, received a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was condemned for the May 20, 2012, attack on 76-year-old Nancy Harris, a great-grandmother he splashed with lighter fluid and set ablaze in the suburb of Garland. Badly burned, she died days afterward.

Asked by the warden if he had a final statement, Johnson turned his head and looked at his victim’s relatives, watching through a window close by.

“As I look at each one of you, I can see her on that day,” he said, speaking slowly and clearly. “I please ask for your forgiveness. I never meant to hurt her.” He added, "I pray that she’s the first person I see when I open my eyes and I spend eternity with.”

“I made wrong choices, I’ve made wrong decisions, and now I pay the consequences,” said Johnson, who also asked forgiveness from his wife and daughters.

There was little reaction from Harris’ relatives — three sons, two daughters-in-law and a granddaughter — who witnessed the execution and declined to speak with reporters afterward.

As the lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital began taking effect, Johnson gasped several times, then made repeated sounds like snoring. Within a minute, all movement stopped. He was pronounced dead at 6:53 p.m. CDT, 26 minutes after the drugs began flowing into his arms.

Johnson’s execution was the second carried out Tuesday in the United States. Hours earlier in Indiana, Benjamin Ritchie received a lethal injection for the 2000 killing of a police officer.

The day's executions were part of a group of four scheduled within about a week’s time. On May 15, Glen Rogers was executed in Florida. On Thursday, Oscar Smith is scheduled to receive a lethal injection in Tennessee.

Security video captured part of the attack against Harris who, despite her burns, was able to describe the suspect before she died.

Johnson’s guilt was never in doubt. During his 2013 trial, he admitted to setting Harris on fire and also expressed remorse. “I hurt an innocent woman. I took a human being’s life ... It was not my intentions to -- to kill her or to hurt her, but I did,” he had said at the time.

Johnson said he had not been aware of what he had done as he had been high after smoking $100 worth of crack. His attorneys told jurors Johnson had a long history of drug addiction and had been sexually abused as a child.

Harris had worked at the convenience store for more than 10 years, living only about a block and a half away, according to testimony from one of her sons. She had four sons, 11 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Prosecutors said Harris had only been working her Sunday morning shift for a short time when Johnson walked in, poured lighter fluid over her head and demanded money.

After Johnson grabbed the money from the register, he set Harris on fire and calmly walked out of the store, according to court documents. Harris frantically tried to extinguish herself and her clothing, exiting the store and screaming for help before a police officer used a fire extinguisher to douse the flames covering her body. Johnson was arrested about an hour later.

Harris suffered extensive second- and third-degree burns over her head and face, neck, shoulders, upper arms, and leg and was in a great deal of pain in the days before she died, a nurse and doctor testified.

Johnson’s legal team did not pursue any appeals this week with the U.S. Supreme Court, according to David Dow, one of the inmate’s attorneys. Lower appeals courts had previously rejected defense requests to stay the execution, and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Friday denied Johnson’s request to commute his death sentence to a lesser penalty.

In previous appeals, Johnson’s lawyers had argued his death sentence was unconstitutional because he was improperly determined to be a future danger to society, a legal finding that was needed to sentence him to death. His most recent appeals had argued his execution date had been illegally scheduled.

Johnson was the fourth person put to death this year in Texas, historically the nation’s busiest capital punishment state. Tuesday’s executions in Texas and Indiana brought this year’s total in the U.S. to 18 inmates put to death.

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This undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Matthew Lee Johnson, who was sentenced to death for a convenience store robbery in which he set an elderly clerk on fire in Garland, Texas. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP)

This undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Matthew Lee Johnson, who was sentenced to death for a convenience store robbery in which he set an elderly clerk on fire in Garland, Texas. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP)