14 killed in 2 terror attacks on yatris in 2 years: Centre

Srinagar, Aug 06: The Centre on Tuesday said that two terrorist attacks on yatris had taken place between 2022 and 2024 in Jammu and Kashmir, with 14 killings reported in these incidents.

In a written reply to a query from Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said that no such incident had taken place in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023.

He said that in 2022 one such incident happened on May 13, when a blast occurred inside a passenger bus in Katra, resulting in the killings of five persons.

This year on June 9, terrorists attacked a bus carrying yatris near the Kanda area of Reasi district, resulting in nine killings.

Rai said that in response to these attacks, the government had enhanced security measures to protect yatris, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir.

“The key initiatives include regular issuance of safety advisories to inform and guide yatris, a robust mechanism for intelligence sharing among security agencies, and provision of Central Armed Police Forces upon request from the state or union territory authorities,” the minister said.

He said that the J&K government had also implemented specific measures to bolster security like the implementation of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for yatri safety, coordination of security efforts among various agencies, installation of CCTV cameras along routes, camps, and langer points of the Amarnath deployment of drones at sensitive locations, stationing of specialised quick action teams at strategic points, provision of corridor protection by the Army, deployment of senior officers at Pahalgam and Baltal to monitor arrangements, and regular reviews by senior officers to ensure effective security measures. KNO