1995 kidnapping of western tourists in Jammu and Kashmir

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1995 kidnapping of western tourists in Jammu and Kashmir was an act of kidnapping of six foreign tourists by Al-Faran, a terrorist organisation, from the Liddarwat area of Pahalgam in Anantnag district in south Jammu and Kashmir on July 4, 1995.

The six victims included two British tourists, Keith Mangan and Paul Wells; two Americans, John Childs and Donald Hutchings; a German, Dirk Hasert; and a Norwegian, Hans Christian Ostro. Childs managed to escape and was rescued four days later. Ostro was beheaded by his abductors and his body was found near Pahalgam on August 13, 1995.

The kidnappers demanded the release of Maulana Masood Azhar and 20 other terrorists. Several national and international organisations issued appeals to Al-Faran to release the tourists. Representatives of the embassies of the victims' countries also visited Kashmir frequently to seek their release, without success. Mangan, Wells, Hutchings, and Hasert have never been found are presumed to have been killed.