Jammu: Extensive efforts to track down terrorists involved in the attack on pilgrims in the Reasi district continued on Tuesday, with 11 teams of security personnel working on the ground and a multi-directional cordon laid around the Ranso-Poni-Treyath belt, officials said.
A National Investigation Agency (NIA) team also joined the operation and scanned the area for leads, they said.
Security forces have sounded a high alert in Jammu and Rajouri districts and intensified checking and frisking in the belt following the terror attack that left nine dead and 41 injured.
According to the officials, more than 20 people have been detained for questioning.
On Sunday, terrorists opened fire at the 53-seater bus carrying pilgrims when it was en route from the Shiv Khori temple to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Katra near Teryath village in the Poni area.
The bus, which was ferrying pilgrims from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi, plunged into a deep gorge following the gunfire.
Deputy Inspector General of Police, Udhampur-Reasi Range, Rayees Mohammad Bhat said the security forces have got some leads as 11 teams of police, Army and CRPF are jointly working on two different axes to neutralise the fleeing terrorists.
“The search operation is going on today in and around the area (where the attack took place) with 11 teams working on the ground apart from a multi-directional cordon laid around the (Poni-Treyath) belt,” another senior police officer said.
The officials said that based on the statements of those injured in the attack, they have not ruled out the possibility of a fourth person being present at the spot who acted as a lookout for the three terrorists.
Sources said security forces suspect the Pakistani terrorists are hiding in the mountainous terrains of Rajouri and Reasi and have intensified combing operations in the region. They are taking directions from Pakistan’s ISI through secured communication, the sources said.
“There are reports that four terrorists including a local over-ground worker were involved in the attack which was carried out on the directions of Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Abu Hamza,” they said.
The NIA team visited the attack site for the second consecutive day on Tuesday. It examined the entire area, including the bus, and recreated the scene of the attack. They have also questioned some of the detainees to gather leads related to the attack.
Armed with surveillance equipment, including drones, and sniffer dogs, the security personnel launched the massive combing operation on Monday. A chopper was also pressed into service to keep an eye on movement in the area.
Of the 41 people injured in the attack, 10 sustained bullet wounds. Bus driver Vijay Sharma died of multiple bullet wounds. As many as 11 bullet marks were found at various places on the bus, the officials said.
The teams of NIA, State Investigation Agency (SIA) and forensic department joined the probe on Monday.
Police release sketch of terrorist, announce Rs 20 lakh reward for information
The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Tuesday released a sketch of a terrorist involved in the attack on a passenger bus in Reasi district and announced a Rs 20 lakh reward for information about him.
On Sunday, terrorists opened fire at the 53-seater bus carrying pilgrims when it was en route from the Shiv Khori temple to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Katra near Teryath village in the Poni area.
The bus, which was ferrying pilgrims from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi, plunged into a deep gorge following the gunfire, killing nine people and injuring 41 others.
“Reasi police announce a reward of Rs 20 lakh for any fruitful information about the whereabouts of the terrorist involved in the recent attack on the yatri bus in the area of Pouni,” a police spokesman said.
The sketch of the terrorist was prepared based on the description given by eyewitnesses, he said and appealed to people provide information.
Extensive efforts to track down the terrorists involved in the attack was underway on Tuesday, with 11 teams of security personnel working on the ground and a multi-directional cordon laid around the Ranso-Poni-Treyath belt, officials said.
Bus owner demands martyr status for driver, conductor
Sujan Singh, the owner of the private bus that was ambushed by terrorists in Reasi Sunday evening, has demanded the status of martyr for the driver Vijay Kumar and teenage conductor Arun Kumar for averting an even more terrible catastrophe by plunging the vehicle into a gorge to escape the raining bullets.
Singh also highlighted the need for taking care of the poor families of the victims and security on the Shiv Khori route, given the heavy pilgrim flow to the temple, which is over 80 km from Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine in Katra.
Besides the two locals, seven pilgrims – three men, three women, and a two-year-old boy – were killed and 41 others injured, when the terrorists opened fire at the 53-seater bus, on its way from Shiv Khori temple to Katra Sunday evening.
The attack forced the bus to veer off the road and fall into a deep gorge near the Teryath village of the Poni area of Reasi. The private bus was ferrying pilgrims from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Delhi.
Bodies of both Vijay Kumar, 40, and his conductor Arun Kumar, 19, were cremated in Dasanoo-Rajbagh and Kandera-Katra, their respective villages, on Monday.
“Vijay was like a family to me, the gentlest, and always smiling. He had been working with me for about six years and I believe that he deliberately plunged the vehicle into the gorge instead of stopping it on the road to allow terrorists to kill all its occupants. A major catastrophe was thus averted,” Singh told PTI in Katra.
According to officials and witnesses, the driver was the first to be hit by a bullet.
“His father Rattan Lal died over six months ago. To ensure that he returned home in the evening, I had asked him to drive on the Shiv Khori route instead of the Katra-Udhampur-Jammu road. He has (two) small children and there is nobody else in the family to see to their upbringing,” Singh said.
Arun, he said, had joined his transport company just a few days before the terror attack. “He was just 19 and the only brother of three sisters. This family is very poor.”
The J&K Administration has already announced an ex gratia relief of Rs 10 lakh each to the next of kin of the dead and Rs 50,000 to each injured.
Demanding severe punishment for the terrorists involved in the attack, Singh said the incident has struck fear in the driver community and the government must ensure their safety on the route which passes through a dangerous area.
