India, April 23 -- Debabasish Bhattacharya, the head of the Bengali department at Assam University, along with his family members, narrowly escaped death in the horrific terrorist attack in Pahalgam area of Kashmir on Tuesday.

Sharing the experience with HT on Wednesday, he said that chanting Kalma, an Islamic verse, saved him and his family members from getting killed by terrorists.

"We reached the area at around 2.10 pm and nearly 20 minutes later, we heard the sound of gunfire. Initially we thought it was blank fire by forest officials, but my son saw two men getting shot," he said.

After the gunshots, they went down on their knees under a tree as directed by the masked gunmen and there were many other tourists in the same positions...