Brian McDonald
New Delhi – An attack by unidentified militants in the Indian-controlled part of the restive Himalayan region of Kashmir left nine people dead and 33 others injured on Sunday, police said. Suspected terrorists opened fire on a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims, causing the driver to lose control and sending the bus plunging into a gorge in the mountainous region, district police said.
The bus was heading to the famous Hindu shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi in the Katra region when it was attacked on a mountain road.
Videos posted online and broadcast by Indian media showed bodies lying on a rocky slope running down one side of the highway.
AFP/Getty
Police and paramilitary forces ended search and rescue operations on Monday, but the hunt for the attackers continued.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but district police said the militants “ambushed the bus.”
“Around 6 pm, militants fired at the bus,” Mohita Sharma, senior superintendent of police in Reasi district in the Jammu and Kashmir region, told media. “The driver lost control, causing the bus to fall into the ravine.”
She said at least two militants were believed to have fled after the attack and that a manhunt was underway.
AFP/Getty
Indian officials said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was sworn in for the third consecutive term in office just hours before the attack, he took “an assessment of the situation” and called for the best medical care for the injured. The election campaign was marked by Hindu-Muslim sectarian divisions that opponents of Modi’s Hindu nationalist BJP party accused him of exploiting for political gain.
Rahul Gandhi, leader of the opposition Indian National Congress party, described the attack as “saddening” and “shameful” and said it highlighted the “true picture of the worrying security situation in Jammu and Kashmir”.
An armed conflict between Pakistan-backed Muslim militant groups and Indian military forces has raged for more than 60 years in Kashmir, with regular small-scale violence and occasional outbreaks that have left tens of thousands of people dead.
Nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan have fought two wars in the predominantly Muslim region of Kashmir. Although administration of the area is divided between the countries, both claim full ownership.
Eight pilgrims were killed and 19 injured in a similar attack in the region in 2017, when militants attacked a bus transporting them from the famous Amarnath Cave Temple in south Kashmir.
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