The Amarnath Yatra was temporarily suspended on Friday due to bad weather conditions as rain lashed many parts of Jammu and Kashmir.

"The yatra has been suspended and no pilgrim is being allowed to move towards the holy cave shrine this morning," news agency PTI reported citing the officials.

The heavy downpour, which started in the morning hours on Friday, forced the temporary suspension of the pilgrimage along both the Baltal and the Pahalgam routes.

The yatra to the holy shrine is expected to resume as the weather improves.

Eighth batch of 7,010 pilgrims left for twin base camps Baltal and Pahalgam in a convoy of 247 vehicles on Friday. Of these, 5179 were men, 1549 women, 21 children, 228 sadhus and 33 sadhvis. 240 pilgrims heading for Baltal in 94 vehicles, 4600 pilgrims left for Pahalgam in 153 vehicles to pay obeisance at the holy cave shrine.

On Thursday, 17,202 pilgrims paid obeisance at the holy cave shrine, taking the cumulative total of devotees who have had 'darshan' of the natural ice lingam formation to 84,768 so far.

The 62-day-long yatra to the Amarnath holy shrine commenced on July 1 and will culminate on August 31. The registrations for both the routes- the Pahalgam track in the Anantnag district and Baltal in the Ganderbal district- have been initiated through online and offline modes.

Located 141 km from the capital Srinagar at an altitude of 12,756 feet above sea level, the holy cave of Amarnath lies in the Ladar Valley, which is covered by glaciers, and snow-capped mountains for most of the year.