The Union Home Ministry on Monday handed over the probe into the recent terror attack on a bus in Jammu & Kashmir to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), officials 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 Jammu & Kashmir’s Reasi district 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 & Kashmir has been handed over to the NIA, an official said. The decision came a day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah reviewed the security situation in Jammu & Kashmir and preparations for the annual Amarnath yatra in two back-to-back meetings here. The meetings were called in the wake of the terror attack on the bus in Reasi district and a few other terror incidents in the Union Territory. Prime Minister Narendra Modi too reviewed the security situation in Jammu & Kashmir on June 13 where he 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 Jammu & Kashmir is in its decisive phase and recent incidents show that terrorism has 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. Terrorist killed in encounter in J&K’s Bandipora: A terrorist was killed in an encounter with security forces in Jammu & Kashmir’s Bandipora district on Monday, officials said. The gunfight broke out after security forces launched a cordon and search operation in the Aragam area of the district on Sunday night following information about the presence of terrorists there, they said. The army’s Srinagar-based Chinar Corps said one terrorist has been killed.

 

The operation was in progress till last reports, it said. The officials said the gunfight broke out after terrorists opened firing on security personnel. The identity of the slain terrorist is yet to be ascertained, they said. “One body has been spotted at the site of the encounter while searches are on to look for more terrorists in the area,” an official had said earlier. Armed terrorist arrested in Kupwara: Security forces said on Monday that they have arrested an armed terrorist in J&K’s Kupwara district. Police identified the terrorist as Zakir Hameed Mir of Kachri village of Handwara tehsil in Kashmir. “The arrested terrorist was in touch with his Pakistani handler across the border. His questioning is going on and further disclosures are expected to come to the fore during the investigation,” officials said. More details were awaited.