Bus carrying Amarnath pilgrims was attacked twice: JK govt

The bus carrying the Amarnath pilgrims was attacked twice in quick succession by two teams of terrorists, who escaped after spraying bullets from automatic rifles.

In a two-page report sent to the Union home ministry, the Jammu and Kashmir government said the bus had a flat tyre at a place called Sangam in Anantnag district while going from Srinagar to Jammu, delaying the entourage by about an hour.

After the bus resumed its onward journey, it came under attack from a group of terrorists at Khanabal around 2017 hours yesterday.

Facing the bullets, the driver of the bus, Salim Sheikh, charged past the area but had to face another group of terrorists after crossing just 75 metres.

The state government report said the driver again did not stop the bus despite facing the terrorist attack for the second time in quick succession.

The bus was finally stopped at a police point after a few kilometres and the policemen on duty took the pilgrims to the Anantnag police line where the injured were given first aid before being shifted to a hospital, it said.

According to the report, most of the pilgrims received injuries in legs, nose and shoulders.

Altogether seven Amarnath pilgrims, including six women, were killed and 19 injured in the attack. All the deceased were from Gujarat.

The attack took place when they were returning to Jammu from Srinagar in the bus, after visiting the cave shrine of Lord Shiva, located in the Himalayas at an altitude of 12,756 feet.