Survivors of the terror attack on a bus carrying pilgrims in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district, have recounted the moment of horror, saying the terrorists continued to fire at the vehicle despite it falling into a gorge to ensure everyone was killed. They said that the passengers stayed silent to pretend they were all dead.
"They were 6–7 terrorists, their faces were covered with masks. Initially, they fired on the bus by covering it from all sides on the road. When the bus fell, they came towards it and kept firing to ensure everyone was killed," one of the eyewitnesses told India Today TV.
"We maintained silence to make them believe (that they were dead). The incident happened 30 mins after we took the bus for Vaishno Devi from Shivkhorhi (Reasi) at 6 pm. We were afraid and just wanted to get back to our homes. There were kids and women also on the bus and all got injured. Police and locals arrived to rescue us after 10 to 15 mins of this attack," the eyewitness added.
Recounting the horrific attack, one of the survivors said, "I saw one of the terrorists firing at the bus. He kept firing at the bus for 20 minutes even after it fell into a gorge."
The driver of the bus was hit by a bullet due to which he lost control and the vehicle fell into a gorge.
Ten people were killed, and 33 others were injured after terrorists fired upon a bus carrying pilgrims from a shrine in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district on Sunday, police said. The bus rolled down a gorge following the attack.
Sources told India Today that two to three terrorists were involved in the Reasi bus attack. The terrorists are part of the same group that carried out other attacks in Rajouri and Poonch over the past month. The terrorists were hiding in the dense vegetation and ambushed the bus on Sunday.
A massive search operation has been launched to trace the terrorists. Home Ministry sources informed India Today TV that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has been deployed to probe the attack.
Drones are being used to search the forest area while a team from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) have also joined the operation.
