NIA team reaches J&K to probe into Reasi terror attack; set to coordinate with local police

An NIA team has reached Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district and is coordinating with local police probing into the terror attack on a passenger bus that left nine people dead and several injured, officials said on Monday.

Meanwhile, security forces have also launched a massive cordon and search operation to track down the terrorists responsible for the attack.

ALSO READ: 9 killed, 33 injured as terrorists ambush bus carrying pilgrims in J&K’s Reasi

A National Investigation Agency (NIA) team has reached Reasi and is coordinating with the local police probing into the attack, the officials said.

Terrorists opened fire at the 53-seater bus, on its way from the Shiv Khori temple to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Katra, causing it to veer off the road and fall into a deep gorge near the Teryath village of the Poni area on Sunday. The bus was ferrying pilgrims from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi.

ALSO READ: 22 dead, 64 injured as bus falls into gorge in Jammu

Pakistan-based terror outfit, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) took credit for this attack on Sunday evening, reported Hindustan Times. LeT's front TRF owned up to the attack to show that the terrorists were from J&K and not Lahore-based foreign Islamists, the report said.

Officials said nine people, including a two-year-old boy from Rajasthan and a 14-year-old from Uttar Pradesh, died in the attack.

PM Narendra Modi has asked Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to closely monitor and attend to the affected families, according to a Hindustan Times report. An ex-gratia of ₹10 lakh was announced by LG for the victim's next of kin and ₹50,000 each for those injured in the terror attack, Hindustan Times reported.

READ MORE: Reasi bus terror attack: Four from Rajasthan, three from UP among nine victims

They added that 41 people aged between three and 50 were injured in the ambush. Of them, 10 suffered gunshot injuries.