New Delhi/IBNS: Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a crucial meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Tuesday evening to discuss the shocking terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam that saw the loss of 28 lives.

The meeting was called to formulate the government's response to the same.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has already issued a warning that there will be retaliation, which will be appropriate and swift. 

He said those responsible for the cowardly terrorist attack on 'innocent citizens' in Jammu and Kashmir will soon get a befitting reply to their nefarious acts on Indian soil.

Singh made the strong remark a day after Pahalgam, a popular tourist destination in the Kashmir Valley, resonated with the sounds of gunfiring when terrorists identified non-Muslim visitors to the meadow and gunned them down.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who visited the terror attack site earlier in the day, also joined the meeting in Delhi. Besides them, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Foreign Minister S Jaishankar were also present.

Shah paid his respects to the deceased in the Pahalgam terror attack earlier in the day.

During the meeting, Doval reportedly briefed the Prime Minister about the situation on the ground.

Pahalgam Massacre

Twenty-eight tourists died after terrorists identified them as non-Muslims and gunned them down in Baisaran meadows, a popular destination in Pahalgam.

World leaders, including US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, condemned the attack.

The terrorists, who were apparently in camouflage, reportedly asked the victims to chant Islamic verse, pull down their pants to check circumcision in a bid to confirm their Hindu identities before gunning them down. Two among the dead were non-Muslim foreigners.