Srinagar, India (CNN) At least seven Hindu pilgrims have been killed and 19 others wounded after the bus they were traveling in became caught in crossfire in Indian administered Kashmir, police have confirmed.

A police spokesman said the bus was returning from the hard-to-reach Himalayan cave shrine of Amarnath when militants and Indian police exchanged fire at Botengoo, Monday night, on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway, south of the capital Srinagar.

"Terrorists fired on a police checkpoint and the fire was returned. A tourist bus was hit by bullets," police spokesman Manoj Pandita said in a statement.

While police have so far attributed the deaths to crossfire, others have accused the militants of deliberately targeting the pilgrims.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the attack on social media , saying that "India will never get bogged down by such cowardly attacks and evil designs of hate."

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