NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday took over the probe into the recent terror attack on a bus in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir in which nine people were killed after the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) gave its nod to the agency, officials said.
In the June 9 terror attack, a sniper shot the driver of the bus carrying pilgrims from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi. As the driver lost control, the bus plunged into a deep gorge leaving nine people, including three women and a child, dead and 41 injured.
The 53-seater bus was ambushed when it was en route from Shiv Khori temple to Mata Vaishno Devi shrine at Katra.
The officials said NIA sleuths had joined the probe on Day 1 and were helping the Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) police, but now it has been decided to hand over the investigation into the case completely to the anti-terror federal investigative agency.
They said the decision came a day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah reviewed the security situation in J&K 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 in the past few days.
On June 11, terrorists fired at a joint check-post of the Rashtriya Rifles and J&K police at Chattergalla in Bhaderwah while a search party in the Gandoh area of Doda district was attacked on June 12, resulting in injuries to seven security personnel, including a policeman.
Shah, during the review meeting yesterday, said that the fight against terrorism in J&K 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 had also directed security agencies to implement area domination and zero-terror plans in the Jammu division like they did in Kashmir to achieve success.