Terrorists may have managed to reach hideouts
*Police announces Rs 20 lakh reward, releases sketches
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 11: Police was close to zero-in on some suspects including a terror associate who helped four Pakistani terrorists to executed the attack on the bus of Shiv Khori pilgrims Sunday evening even as Rajouri Police today joined their Reasi counterparts in intensifying search operations to nab the attackers.
Police have detained two dozen suspects. Senior police and security officials continued to lead search operations in the hilly areas of Teryath, the site of terror attack but there were reports that the terrorists had managed to reach their hideouts with the help of terror associate.
DIG Udhampur-Reasi Range Rayees Mohammad Bhat told the Excelsior that 10 teams of Reasi Police have launched massive search and cordon operations in Teryath and surrounding areas while Rajouri Police have also joined searches. Teryath village is located on the border of Reasi and Rajouri districts where terrorists fired on a bus of Shiv Khori pilgrims on Sunday killing nine persons, seven of them yatris, and wounding 43 others.
Four terrorists, all Pakistanis, and a terror associate were involved in executing the attack, the sources said, adding that all out operations have been launched to eliminate or apprehend the attackers.
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Reasi Police tonight released sketches of two terrorists involved in the attack and announced a reward of Rs 20 lakh for any fruitful information about whereabouts of terrorists involved in the attack.
Nearly two dozen people have been picked up for questioning.
“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 officer said.
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.
Teams of National Investigation Agency (NIA), State Investigation Agency (SIA) and Forensic Department visited the attack site and have joined the probe.
Devotees, however, keep steaming in to visit the Shiv Khori temple as usual, reposing faith in the security forces and the God.
They, however, could be seen making a brief stopover near the site of the incident near Teryath village of the Pouni area and raised slogans like ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and ‘Bharatiya Sena Zindabad’ and praying for the dead.
“We came to know about the terror attack through news but decided to continue our journey to have darshan of Mata Rani (Vaishno Devi),” Parmeela Bajaj, a part of a 20-member group from Maharashtra, said.
“Fear is natural but we have full faith in our security forces who defend our country without fear for their lives. We have faith in our Lord,” Mangla Mahajan, also from Maharashtra, said.
Authorities said there was no drop in the rush to the famous Vaishno Devi shrine, located in the Trikuta hills, over 80 km from Shiv Khori temple.
“Adequate security arrangements are in place at both Vaishno Devi and Shiv Khori temples. A fresh security review of both places was carried out in the wake of the terror attack,” an official said.
Security has been beefed up on the main road leading to Shiv Khori from both the Reasi and Rajouri sides with the deployment of additional security forces, the person said
Meanwhile, 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.
“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 said.
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.”
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