Two from UP among nine killed in J-K bus terror attack

Gonda/Balrampur (UP), Jun 10 (PTI) Two persons from Uttar Pradesh were among the nine victims of the deadly terror attack on a bus carrying pilgrims in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district, officials said on Monday.

Among the 41 injured in the Sunday evening attack, 10 are from Balrampur district and eight from Gonda district, they said.

District Magistrate of Balrampur Arvind Singh said 12 devotees from the district had gone on a pilgrimage to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu.

Terrorists opened fire at a bus carrying pilgrims in Reasi district on Sunday, killing nine and injuring several. The 53-seater bus, on its way from the Shiv Khori temple to Katra, veered off the road following the barrage of gunfire and fell into a deep gorge near the Teryath village of the Poni area.

Ruby (15) and Anurag Verma (10) from Kandhbhari village died while 10 were injured and have been admitted to hospitals in Jammu, the Balrampur district magistrate said, adding the sub-divisional magistrates of Uttaraula and Balrampur have been instructed to contact the affected families and provide them help.

Gonda District Magistrate Neha Sharma said eight members of a family from the district were also injured in the terrorist attack. All of them have been evacuated by the relief and rescue team and admitted to hospitals, she added.

Sharma said she has spoken to the family members of the survivors and assured them of all possible help from the administration. "We are keeping an eye on the situation. Some of the devotees were injured after being shot at while many suffered serious injuries as the bus fell into the gorge," she said.

"Some of the injured devotees had to undergo surgery. A magistrate and a deputy SP-rank police officer from the district are being sent to Jammu to help the victims," the Gonda DM said.

Suryanath Gupta, a resident of Bhikharipur village, said eight members of his family had left for Jammu on June 4 to offer prayers at the Vaishno Devi shrine. While one of his family members has been admitted to the government hospital in Katra, the rest have been admitted to a hospital in Jammu, he said. PTI COR NAV NSD NSD