It was the deadliest attack against civilians in years in Kashmir, a region claimed by both India and Pakistan that has been racked by violence for decades.

Militants who killed 26 people in India's Kashmir region separated the men from the women and children and asked the men their names before shooting them at close range, security officials and survivors said on Wednesday.

Twenty-six men were killed and 17 were injured when suspected militants opened fire at tourists in India's Jammu and Kashmir territory, police said.