MHA hands over probe into Reasi bus terror attack to NIA

Our Correspondent

Jammu, June 17

The Union Home Ministry on Monday handed over the probe into the recent terror attack on a bus in Jammu’s Reasi to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), an official said.

Nine people, including three women, were killed, and 41 injured as a bus carrying pilgrims from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi plunged into a deep gorge after an ambush by terrorists in Reasi on June 9. The terrorists opened fire at the 53-seater bus when it was en route from Shiv Khori temple to Mata Vaishno Devi shrine at Katra.

The investigation into the June 9 terror attack on a bus in Jammu and Kashmir has been handed over to the NIA, the official said. The decision came a day after Home Minister Amit Shah reviewed the security situation in the Union Territory and preparations for the annual Amarnath Yatra in two back-to-back meetings in Delhi.

The meetings were called in the wake of the terror attack on the bus in Reasi district and a few other terror incidents in J&K. On June 11, terrorists had fired at a joint checkpost of the Rashtriya Rifles and police at Chattergalla in Bhaderwah, while a search party in the Gandoh area of Doda district was attacked on June 12, resulting in injuries to seven security personnel, including a policeman.

PM Narendra Modi had also reviewed the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir on June 13 and had directed officials to deploy the “full spectrum of counter-terror capabilities” after a spate of terror incidents, including the attack on the bus carrying pilgrims. Shah on Sunday said the fight against terrorism in J&K was in its decisive phase and recent incidents showed that terrorism had been forced to shrink from highly organised acts of violence to a mere “proxy war”. He also directed security agencies to implement area domination and zero-terror plans in the Jammu division like they did in Kashmir to achieve success. — With PTI inputs

#Jammu #National Investigation Agency NIA #Reasi