Srinagar: A massive hunt has been launched in Kashmir, particularly in south valley, to nab the militants responsible for the attack on a yatri bus in Anantnag that left seven pilgrims, five of them women, dead and 21 injured last night. Meanwhile, cutting across party lines, mainstream political, social, religious and separatist organisations have strongly condemned the attack and called it inhumane act.
Senior police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officers said the bus, which was attacked by militants at Batangoo Khanabal Anantng at 2020 hrs, has violated security norms as Road Opening Parties (ROPs) are withdrawn after 1900 hrs on the highway and other yatra routes. So far, no militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the attack though some reports said Laskhar-e-Toiba (LeT) was behind it. Official sources said that a massive hunt has been launched in the Kashmir valley, where security forces are already on high alert. Security forces and police have conducted raids at several places in Anantnag and other south Kashmir districts.
Additional security forces and the Army had been deployed on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway and other Amarnath yatra routes to foil any militant attack on the yatra. Inspector General of CRPF, who visited Anantnag this morning, said it was a matter of investigation how the vehicle carrying yatris was allowed to move after the withdrawal of the ROP at 1900 hrs. About the militant group involved in the attack, he said, it is too early to identify the militant group. Senior police officers claimed that it was not an attack on yatra bus but on a CRPF and police in the area. They said the bus was caught in cross fire.
Seven yatris, five of them women, were killed and 21 others were injured in the attack. The victims were from Gujarat. Immediately after the militants managed to escape under the cover of darkness, locals immediately shifted the injured to hospital. The yatris said that they had paid obeisance at the cave shrine two days ago and were on way to Katra, Jammu, from Srinagar. ‘We had planned to visit Shri Mata Vaishno devi Shrine to pay obeisance,’ they said.
