J-K: 7 Amarnath pilgrims killed in terror attack in Anantnag

Seven Amarnath Yatra pilgrims were killed and 12 injured in a terrorist attack. Terrorists opened fire on a bus which was not part of the main yatra convoy and was not registered with the shrine board.

The main yatra convoy is escorted by the Central Reserve Police Force or CRPF, which has now rushed troops to the spot.

Sources say that the terrorists had intended on attacking the police party. Militants also opened fire in Botengoo near joint interrogation centre of Anantnag district of Kashmir, police said.

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah tweeted: "The one thing we had all feared this year during the yatra. In spite of recent successes against militants & unprecedented force presence."

The Amarnath pilgrimage came under attack on August 1, 2000, when militants massacred 30 people in Pahalgam. The victims were pilgrims and local porters.

The government held the Lashkar-e-Taiba responsible for the attack.

This year, intelligence agencies warned that militants were planning to target 100 policemen and as many pilgrims of the annual yatra to the Amarnath cave shrine that began from Jammu last Wednesday amid tight multi-tier security.

"The attack may be in the form of stand-off fire on yatra convoy, which they believe will result in flaring communal tensions throughout the nation," the inspector general of police said.

The government has deployed more than 40,000 troops to protect the twin routes of the 40-day pilgrimage to the Himalayan shrine in south Kashmir.

Surveillance cameras, jammers, dog squads, bullet-proof bunkers, satellite tracking devises and other security gadgets are being used to maintain vigil in view of increased militancy-linked incidents and violence in Kashmir.

The base camps in Pahalgam and Baltal are in Anantnag and Ganderbal districts. Situated in a narrow gorge at the farther end of Lidder Valley, Amarnath shrine stands at 3,888 metres, 46km from Pahalgam and 14km from Baltal.

OneIndia News