Defying apprehensions of the horrific April 22 terror Pahalgam attack casting a shadow on the Amarnath Yatra this year, hundreds of pilgrims from various parts of the country lined up at the registration centre in Jammu on the first day.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has started interviewing eyewitnesses, including tourists, in connection with the deadly terrorist attack in Pahalgam, south Kashmir. The attack, carried out by terrorists from the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), claimed the lives of 26 people on April 22. Initial investigations suggest that five to seven terrorists were involved, aided by local militants trained in Pakistan. Security forces are conducting massive operations to hunt down the terrorists in the dense jungles of the Pir Panjal range.
The body of Territorial Army jawan Hilal Ahmad Bhat, who was reported missing on Tuesday from Shah, was recovered from Sanglan forest area in Utrasoo area of Anantnag, the officials said.
Late Jammu and Kashmir Police deputy superintendent Humayun Bhat, who died in a 2023 encounter with terrorists, was posthumously awarded the President's Police Medal for Gallantry for his courageous actions during a 2021 gunfight. Bhat was earlier honored with the Kirti Chakra, the nation's second-highest peacetime gallantry award, for his role in neutralizing a top local commander of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and a Pakistani terrorist.
Thousands of tourists have begun leaving Kashmir after a terror attack in Pahalgam killed 26 people, prompting authorities to arrange for their safe return. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah expressed concern over the exodus, while the Civil Aviation Ministry has ordered airlines to ensure there are no fare hikes and to offer extra flights from Srinagar. While many tourists are leaving, some are choosing to stay, citing the presence of security forces and their feeling of safety.
Terrorists on Saturday shot dead a policeman in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said, evoking condemnations from mainstream political parties in the Valley.
The Congress on Monday distanced itself from the controversial comments of some of its leaders on the Pahalgam terror attack, saying that only the recent CWC resolution and the views expressed by AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and authorised AICC office-bearers represent its position. The opposition party's assertion comes in the wake of remarks by leaders like Vijay Wadettiwar, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Shashi Tharoor, Tariq Hameed Karra and Saifuddin Soz that have triggered a row, with the BJP alleging that some from the opposition party were speaking "Pakistan's language".
In a video circulated on social media, Doval can be heard enquiring about the price, weight and diet of the cattle -- mostly sheep on sale at the market.
Terrorists opened fire at a popular tourist spot near Kashmir's Pahalgam town on Tuesday afternoon, killing 26 people, mostly holidayers from other states, in what is the deadliest attack in the Valley since the Pulwama strike in 2019.
One of the slain terrorists was pursuing Bachelor of Physiotherapy.
'Right now, we have no relationship with Pakistan. And the relationship with China is not great.'
Survivors of a terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Baisaran recount a horrific massacre in which 26 tourists were killed. The attackers, clad in brown clothes and wearing GoPro cameras, demanded to know who was Hindu or Muslim before firing indiscriminately. Families of the victims demand accountability and justice, calling for increased security at tourist spots.
A top Pakistani commander of the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) who was active in the Valley for several years was killed and four security personnel were injured in an encounter in the Khanyar area of Srinagar on Saturday, officials said.
The first batch of pilgrims reached Kashmir on Friday for the annual Amarnath Yatra, beginning Saturday, with J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha flagging off 4,603 yatris in the morning from the Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas base camp in Jammu under a tight security cover.
The bypoll, earlier slated to be held on April 12, was postponed for May 25 due to poor law and order situation.
Kashmir police chief Vijay Kumar has directed personnel to apprehend those responsible for the attack as soon as possible.
'Pakistan's only concern has been while they were on the FATF watch list was to distance their State institutions and organs from any direct connection with the actual execution of militancy inside Kashmir.'
The incoming facility on prepaid connections has also been restored, but the outgoing calls are barred.
Terrorists struck at two places in Kashmir on Saturday night, killing a former sarpanch in Shopian and injuring a tourist couple from Rajasthan in Anantnag, two days ahead of Lok Sabha elections in Baramulla.
The boy, identified as Nihan Yawar, a resident of neighbouring Kulgam district, was travelling with his father for some personal work when he was hit by bullets fired by the terrorist at Padshahi Bagh bridge in Anantnag's Bijbehara area.
Militants shot at and critically injured a policeman in south Kashmir's Anantnag town on Friday evening.
A civilian was also injured when terrorists opened fire on a CRPF team deployed on law and order duty at Achabal Chowk in Anantnag and escaped, the sources said.
"Militants in combat uniform barged into the guard room of TV tower at Dalvash in Dooru area of Anantnag district around 12.30 am and overpowered the cops guarding the installation," the police official said.
'Whether she is in power or not, she always makes it a point to visit us. This is her best quality as a leader.'
The killing of the two terrorists is a huge success for the forces, he said. Kumar said LeT terrorists were also behind the killing of Bhupinder Singh, Block Development Council chairman, Khag, in central Kashmir's Budgam district.
He was arrested and during questioning, he confessed to his involvement in the labourer's killing.
More than 4.5 lakh pilgrims paid their obeisance at the natural ice Shiva Lingam formation inside the cave shrine last year.
A Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist returned to India via Nepal and surrendered before police in Anantnag district of south Kashmir on Wednesday after spending two decades in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, police said.
Col Singh was a combat veteran and was awarded Sena Medal during his tenure as second-in-command of the 19 Rashtriya Rifles.
An encounter took place between security forces and terrorists in a remote forest in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar early on Sunday, officials said.
The encounter broke out on Thursday night at Kanibal in Bijbehara of Anantnag district, when the police along with the army and Central Reserve Police Force cordoned off a village following an intelligence input about the presence of terrorists, they said.
Militants shot dead a former militant in south Kashmir's Anantnag district. They also carried out a grenade explosion in north Kashmir's Sopore town on Tuesday evening injuring two persons.
Terrorists blew up a portion of the Anantnag-Baramulla rail track near Galbugh in the south Kashmir Pulwama district late on Thursday night.
The bodies of the three militants were recovered from the debris of the house at Arwani in Bijbehara area on Friday morning after security forces blew up the building using explosives, a police official said.
The EC said polling percentage in the Anantnag-Rajouri seat in Jammu and Kashmir is the highest in 40 years.
A shutdown is being observed in many areas of south Kashmir's Anantnag district for the second consecutive day.
A government middle school in Shopian's Padarpora was set ablaze by unidentified people and on Sunday. The government high school in Pulwama was razed to the ground in a similar manner.
Tral, the former hotbed of terrorism, rocks to the music of democracy.
