'This was a terror attack, plain and simple', US House Committee slams NYT's Pahalgam report

New Delhi, April 25 (IANS) The US government has slammed a prominent American media organisation for its coverage of the April 22 terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam, where 26 people were brutally killed.

The US House Foreign Affairs Committee sharply criticised The New York Times, accusing it of downplaying the gravity of the incident by using terms like "militants" and "gunmen" instead of "terrorists".

In a post on X, the Committee rebuked the newspaper's use of words, sharing an image of the original headline -- "At Least 24 Tourists Gunned Down by Militants in Kashmir" -- with the word "militants" struck out and replaced in bold red with "terrorists".

"Hey, @nytimes we fixed it for you. This was a TERRORIST ATTACK plain and simple. Whether it's India or Israel, when it comes to TERRORISM the NYT is removed from reality," the US Committee wrote.

This, perhaps, unprecedented reaction comes in the wake of the brutal terror attack in J&K's Pahalgam, where Hindus were singled out and shot dead. The attack was later claimed by 'The Resistance Front' -- an offshoot of the banned Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Terrorists opened fire on a group of tourists in the Baisaran Valley, killing 26 and injuring several others. The casualties also included a Nepali tourist. Visuals from the scene have flooded various media, showing chaos and panic, with some of the attackers captured on video firing indiscriminately.

The New York Times, in its report, referred to the terrorists as "militants" and "gunmen", noting that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi "called the shooting, the worst against civilians in the region for years, a 'terror attack' and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice". The framing of the attack as merely a "shooting" has drawn strong objections from several quarters of the US government.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump called Prime Minister Modi to express his condolences and offer full support in bringing the perpetrators to justice.

"President Trump strongly condemned the terror attack and expressed full support to India to bring to justice the perpetrators of this heinous attack. India and the United States stand together in the fight against terror," said Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, in a post on X.

US Vice President JD Vance also called PM Modi, condemning the terror attack and reiterated solidarity with India in its fight against terrorism.

--IANS

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