The United States on Thursday designated the group behind the April Pahalgam attack in India, which killed 26 people, as a terrorist organization.

The US now lists The Resistance Front (TRF) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT).

Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the TRF a "front and proxy" of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a UN-designated terrorist group.

Rubio said in a statement that the move reflects Washington's commitment to counterterrorism and enforces US President Donald Trump's "call for justice” over the Pahalgam killings.

US move seen as support for India

India welcomed the US decision, with Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar calling it a "strong affirmation" of India-US counterterrorism cooperation.

In a statement, India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) called "the designation of TRF is a timely and important step reflecting the deep cooperation between India and the United States on counter-terrorism," The Indian Express newspaper reported.

Experts see the US move as a sign of deepening support for India in the wake of the April terrorist attack.

"This can be a shot in the arm for a U.S.-India relationship looking to rebound after a few tough months," said Michael Kugelman, a Washington-based South Asia analyst and writer for Foreign Policy magazine told Reuters news agency.

The move comes a day after it was reported that Trump would visit Pakistan in September, although this was not confirmed by Pakistani authorities.

Pahalgam attack targeted Hindu tourists

The April 22 Pahalgam attack, which killed 26 mostly Hindu tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir, was the deadliest involving civilians in India since 2008.

While India blamed Pakistan for backing the attackers, Islamabad denied involvement and called for a neutral probe.

The incident sparked a major escalation in hostilities between the two South Asian nuclear-armed neighbors as the conflict escalated into airstrikes, drone and artillery attacks before a ceasefire was reached on May 10.

The TRF initially claimed responsibility for the attack but later retracted its statement amid growing public outrage.

Edited by: Alex Berry