Reasi combing operation enters second day, over 20 picked for questioning

Jammu, June 11

Security forces, including the J&K Police, Army and CRPF, continued the search and combing operation in Reasi to track down two to three terrorists behind the attack on a pilgrim bus on Sunday, which had left nine persons dead.

The search operation continued in the Treyath forest area of the district where the incident had taken place. Specialised units of the Army were present in the search parties along with quadcopters and sniffer dogs. As many as 11 teams of security personnel were working on the ground and a multi-directional cordon had been laid around the Poni-Treyath belt, an official said.

The security forces have sounded a high alert in Jammu and Rajouri districts and intensified checking and frisking in the belt, following the attack. According to an official, more than 20 people have been picked up for questioning.

On Sunday, terrorists had 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 gunfire. Udhampur-Reasi Range DIG Rayees Mohammad Bhat said the security forces had got some leads as 11 teams of police, Army and CRPF were 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 had not ruled out the possibility of a fourth person being present at the spot who acted as a lookout for the three terrorists.

A source said security forces suspect the Pakistan terrorists responsible for the attack 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, the sources added. There are reports that four terrorists, including a local overground worker, were involved in the attack which was carried out on the directions of Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Abu Hamza, the source said. — With PTI inputs