Amarnath Yatra suspended due to bad weather

Srinagar, July 17: The annual Hindu pilgrimage Amarnath Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir was on Friday suspended due to landslides on the routes to the Himalayan cave shrine.

"No yatri will be allowed to move towards the holy cave either from Baltal or Nunwan (Pahalgam) base camps today (Friday)," a police officer told IANS.

The situation will be reviewed in the afternoon.

On Thursday evening, a 15-year old girl was killed due to a cloudburst that hit the Kulan village on Srinagar-Leh highway in Ganderbal district.

The village is situated on the highway that leads to the Baltal base camp of the yatra. Some houses in the village were also damaged.

Cloudbursts also hit Gagangir and Sonamarg villages in the district.

In south Kashmir Anantnag district, a ponywallah was injured when a cloudburst hit the Sheshnag area of the yatra's south Kashmir mountain track.

Authorities here said all the pilgrims are safe at transit camps set up along the north and south Kashmir routes.

Meanwhile, the local Met Office has forecast light to moderate rain in the Kashmir Valley in the next two days.