The deadly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district has shocked India. At least nine people died and 33 were injured after terrorists fired upon a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims, resulting in the vehicle plunging into a deep gorge on Sunday (9 June).
Reports claim that The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), has taken responsibility for the attack.
The tragedy came on the day Narendra Modi and his 71 Council of Ministers took the oath of office at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi in a grand ceremony. J&K Lieutenant Governor (LG) Manoj Sinha said the prime minister had taken “stock of the situation” and assured the best medical care for the injured.
What happened and how the incident has caused security concerns in J&K? Let’s understand.
Reasi terror attack
An eyewitness says two masked terrorists opened fire on the bus carrying pilgrims from the Shiv Khori temple dedicated to Lord Shiva near Ransoo to Katra town, a base camp for devotees visiting Mata Vaishno Devi shrine, reported Indian Express.
According to Mohita Sharma, Reasi Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), the terrorists “ambushed the bus”.
She said the driver “lost control” of the bus and it fell into a gorge in Teryath village of Poni area.
When asked if there were inputs about militant activity in the area, the SSP, as per Indian Express, said, “Whenever there’s an incident of militancy, we are on high alert… The Shivpuri shrine had been secured, and in adjoining areas too, we had been conducting area domination activities.”
Authorities said on Monday (10 June) that out of the nine pilgrims who died in the incident, four were natives of Rajasthan, including a two-year-old boy, and three were from Uttar Pradesh, reported PTI.
The driver and the conductor of the bus, who were locals of J&K, were the other two casualties.
Among the 33 injured, 17 are from Uttar Pradesh and one is a Delhi resident. The identity of the rest is yet to be identified.
Ten victims have gunshot wounds and all the injured are undergoing treatment at three hospitals in Jammu and Reasi districts, reported PTI.
One of the survivors told India Today TV, “I saw one of the terrorists firing at the bus. He kept firing at the bus for 20 minutes even after it fell into a gorge.”
According to Hindustan Times (HT), TRF, the banned terror group based in Pakistan’s Karachi, has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Sources at the home ministry told India Today TV that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has been tasked with probing the dastardly terror attack.
Amit Shah, who served as Union home minister in Modi 2.0, said he had spoken to LG Sinha and the J&K DGP about the incident. “The culprits of this dastardly attack will not be spared and will face the wrath of the law,” he said.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said the incident reflects “the true picture of the worrying security situation in Jammu and Kashmir”.
NDTV reports citing officials that M4 carbines, a US-made assault rifle variant, were used by the terrorists. Multiple teams of security forces and drones have been deployed to hunt for the perpetrators of the attack.
A major security worry
The incident has raised worries about militancy activity in the mostly peaceful Jammu region.
As per an Indian Express report, terrorists had last targeted Hindu pilgrims in the Reasi district in May 2022, when four Vaishno Devi devotees were killed and 24 injured after the bus carrying them caught fire due to sticky bombs planted by terrorists on the vehicle.
In 2017, a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims got caught in a crossfire between police and militants near the Anantnag district, resulting in the death of seven Hindu devotees, most of them women. The vehicle was returning from the famed Amarnath shrine located deep in the Himalayas.
The newspaper report points out that terror attacks beyond the border districts of Rajouri and Poonch indicate militants have “expanded their operations” in the Union Territory.
From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, the Rajouri, Poonch and Reasi districts were hotspots of militancy. However, peace somewhat returned until a revival of militant activities was reported in Rajouri and Poonch in 2021, Indian Express reported. Since then, 38 soldiers and 11 civilians have lost their lives in these two districts.
Before Sunday’s attack, the Reasi district, which is far away from the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan, had remained peaceful for almost 20 years.
HT, citing top official sources, reports that 12 terrorists are behind the attack and they are moving inside the Rajouri-Poonch forests in groups of three or two.
Sources in the security forces told NDTV that at least three terror groups are operating in the areas of Reasi, Udhampur, Poonch and Rajouri.
Characterised by rugged mountainous terrain and dense forests, Rajouri, Poonch and Reasi are significant due to their geographical location, Indian Express noted.
According to the newspaper sources, the only other militant activity reported from Reasi district is of terrorists travelling through the area to reach the Kashmir Valley after crossing the LoC into Rajouri and Poonch districts.
A senior police officer told Indian Express that the Reasi attack was likely a response by terrorists to the increasing pressure from police and security forces in Rajouri and Poonch.
With inputs from agencies
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Why the terror attack in J&K’s Reasi that killed 9 pilgrims poses new security concerns
