Tens of thousands of armed police and soldiers fanned out across the region and erected additional checkpoints.

Twenty-six people were killed and 17 were injured when suspected militants opened fire at tourists in India's Jammu and Kashmir territory on Tuesday, the worst such attack in the country in nearly two decades.

India has an estimated 500,000 soldiers permanently deployed in the territory. A day after the attack, the region's deadliest assault on civilians since 2000, tourists scrambled to leave, cramming into buses and taxis, while hoteliers reported a surge of cancellations.