Seven pilgrims, most of them women, were killed in Jammu and Kashmir when terrorists opened fire on a bus returning from the Amarnath shrine. At least 20 more people were injured in one of the worst terror attacks in the state.
The police in Kashmir have said that the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba was behind the attack and the mastermind was a Pakistani terrorist, Ismail.
The terrorists first fired at an armoured police car at a security checkpost around 8.30 pm. The police fired back, after which the terrorists fired indiscriminately. The pilgrims’ bus, just 600 metres away, was surrounded on three sides by the terrorists and fired at.
The bus was on its way back from the Amarnath shrine located in a narrow gorge at the end of a valley nearly 50 km from Pahalgam.
Police sources say the rules of the pilgrimage bans buses from travelling on a highway after 7 pm for security reasons but the bus had been delayed because of a breakdown. The bus, registered in Gujarat, was also reportedly not part of the official tour, which means that it did not have the standard police escort.
This morning, more than 3,000 pilgrims headed for Amarnath, many of them saying nothing would stop them from completing their pilgrimage. The number of vehicles escorting them has been increased by half.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh has called a meeting to review security in Jammu and Kashmir, especially the Amarnath pilgrimage, which takes place every year under tight security that includes about 40,000 troops guarding the route and a satellite tracking system.
A letter from a top police officer to other security officials on June 25 had warned of an intelligence alert that said “terrorists have been directed to eliminate 100 to 150 pilgrims and about 200 police officers and officials.”
The letter said the attack could target a Yatra convoy “which they believe will result in flaring of communal tensions throughout the nation.” The police officer said in the letter that further corroboration was needed but an attack could not be ruled out.
