Tourists flee Kashmir after ‘terror’ warning

Thousands of tourists and students scrambled to get places on planes and buses leaving Kashmir yesterday after the Indian government warned of the threat of "terror" attacks.

Thousands of military reinforcements were arriving in the Himalayan territory, also claimed by Pakistan, where a three-decade old insurgency has left tens of thousands of dead.

The Jammu and Kashmir state government said late Friday that tourists should leave "immediately" because of new intelligence about "terror threats" to a major Hindu pilgrimage in the region.

Anxious tourists, including some foreigners, flooded the airport at the main city, Srinagar, on Saturday, many without tickets for flights that day.

Visitor numbers have been boosted by the Amarnath Yatra pilgrimage, which draws hundreds of thousands of Hindus each year.

The pilgrimage has been cancelled because of the scare. A huge security force had been guarding the route even before the alert. A second smaller pilgrimage, the Machail Mata Yatra, in Jammu region was also cancelled.

Hundreds of students from outside Kashmir were evacuated in buses.

Kashmiri residents formed long lines outside petrol stations, food stores and bank cash machines on Friday night after the alert was announced. But the queues eased yesterday.

India's military head in Kashmir, Lieutenant General Kanwal Jeet Singh Dhillon, said Friday that a sniper gun and a mine with Pakistani markings had been found on the route of the Amarnath Yatra.

"This proves Pakistani attempts to attack the Yatra," said Singh, who has 500,000 forces in Kashmir battling the insurgency.