Union Minister of State for Home Swami Chinmayanand on Tuesday morning left for Jammu for an on-the-spot report following Monday night's twin blasts in Banganga, near Katra, on the way to the Vaishno Devi shrine, in which six persons were killed and 48 injured.
He is expected to return in the evening and report to Union Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani.
Before leaving Delhi, the minister told mediapersons that the attack was an act of sabotage, particularly in view of the efforts by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam leader Fazlur Rehman to prepare a conducive atmosphere for peace talks between India and Pakistan.
Jammu and Kashmir Governor Lt Gen S K Sinha (retd), who was in Delhi, has also rushed to Jammu in view of the attack.
Sinha is in charge of the Amarnath Yatra, which is in full swing, and is expected to review the security situation in view of Monday night's attack (near the Vaishno Devi shrine).
On Tuesday, police and paratroopers deployed en route were asked to step up vigil in the wake of the militant strike on pilgrims headed for the Vaishno Devi shrine, official sources said adding even the 300-km Jammu-Pahalgam route was put under extra vigil.
Police, Central Reserve Police Force and Border Security Force personnel had been deployed in strength at the base camps and all along the route to ensure an incident-free pilgrimage, the sources said.
Security agencies apprehended militant attacks on the yatra though no outfit has publicly expressed opposition to the annual pilgrimage, the sources said.
Though the Jammu and Kashmir government has put a cap of 3,500 pilgrims each day to offer prayers at the cave shrine, the sources said around 10,000 devotees were paying obeisance daily.
With inputs from Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar and PTI
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