An NIA team has reached Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district and is coordinating with local police probing into the terror attack on a passenger bus that left nine people dead and several injured, officials said on Monday.
The security forces have already launched a massive cordon and search operation to track down the terrorists responsible for the attack.
A National Investigation Agency (NIA) team has reached Reasi and is coordinating with the local police probing into the attack, the officials said.
Terrorists opened fire at the 53-seater bus, on its way from the Shiv Khori temple to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Katra, causing it to veer off the road and fall into a deep gorge near the Teryath village of the Poni area on Sunday. The bus was ferrying pilgrims from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi.
Officials said nine people, including a two-year-old boy from Rajasthan and a 14-year-old from Uttar Pradesh, died in the attack.
They added that 41 people aged between three and 50 were injured in the ambush. Of them, 10 suffered gunshot injuries.
In Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha has approved an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh each for the next of kin of those killed in the terror attack on a bus in Reasi district, an official spokesman said on Monday.
Sinha has also approved Rs 50,000 each for those injured, the spokesman said.
“An ex-gratia of Rs. 10 lakh to be given to the next of kin of pilgrims martyred in Reasi terror attack. The injured would be given Rs. 50,000. The injured pilgrims are being treated at different hospitals in Jammu & Reasi,” LG Manoj Sinha tweeted.
“A control room has been created by the district administration to provide all necessary assistance. A joint security force temporary HQ by J&K Police, Army and CRPF has been set up at the site and operation is in progress to neutralise the perpetrators of Reasi terror attack.”
The 53-seater bus, on its way from the Shiv Khori temple to Katra, veered off the road following the barrage of gunfire and fell into a deep gorge near the Teryath village of Poni area.
The spokesman said a control room has been created by the district administration to provide all necessary assistance to those affected.
Efforts are on to neutralise the perpetrators of the terror attack, the spokesman said.