Srinagar, July 11, 2017: A terrorist attack in Anantnag killed 7 Amarnath pilgrims from Gujarat, 6 of them women, and left 32 injured, when they were traveling on a bus on Monday, July 10.

A similar incident happened 17 years back on August 1, 2000, when an armed attack was staged against the annual yatra which draws lakhs of Hindus from across India to the state. In that incident, around 30 pilgrims and local porters were killed near Pahalgam.

Around 8:20 pm on Monday night, the pilgrims' bus (GJ09Z 9976) was fired on near Khanabal when it was on its way to Jammu, mentioned ANI report.

Police revealed that the bus was not a part of the yatra convoy, which is being provided elaborate security and it was also not registered with the authorities either.

A police official said, during the attack, the terrorists first attacked a bullet-proof bunker of the police at Botengoo. After the police retaliated, the gunmen moved on and fired on a police picket near Khanabal.

PM Narendra Modi has called Anantnag terrorist attack, a cowardly act and an evil design of hate and that the attack deserves the strongest condemnation from everyone.

The militants fled when the police retaliated but they started firing indiscriminately and therefore, the bus which was carrying the yatris got hit.

Even though the police accounts suggest that these yatris were a secondary target, some of the pilgrims who survived the attack said the terrorists had directly targetted them.

(This is a developing story)

– prepared by a Staff writer at NewsGram