Eleven militants used two cars and one motorbike to carry out the attack on a bus carrying Amarnath pilgrims on July 10 last year in Kashmir and “the spot and the target was picked just days before the attack”, says the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that filed a chargesheet against the accused on Monday.
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Speaking to The Hindu, SIT head and Superintendent of Police (SP) Tahir Ashraf Bhatti said, “The Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists, including locals, and its head Abu Ismail, picked the spot and the target just a few days before the attack. It was executed by four terrorists directly, with others being assigned their role to provide logistics and keep an eye on the movement of the yatri bus.”
He said two cars and one bike was used for the attack. “One car remains missing,” the officer added. Eight pilgrims died last year when heavily armed militants opened indiscriminate fire on the bus carrying pilgrims from Baltal to Jammu on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.
According to the 1,500-page SIT report, the bus got disconnected from its security cover first at Pantha Chowk, where the pilgrims picked up more associates, and “later developed a technical snag”, which was attended to at Awantipora.
Of the 11 accused, four persons, including a juvenile, have been arrested.
