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

The region's chief minister said the attack was "much larger than anything we've seen directed at civilians in recent years".

A group of gunmen shot and killed at least 26 domestic tourists and others and wounded many in the Baisaran Valley tourist town of Pahalgam, Kashmir, on Tuesday morning.