Gunmen killed at least 26 people and injured a dozen others in the disputed Himalayan region of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, a rare assault on tourists in an area fraught by decades of insurgency and opposition to India’s rule.

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.

The nuclear-armed rivals, which both claim Kashmir and administer separate parts of it, are at a dangerous crossroad after Tuesday’s militant attack, analysts said.