Over 4,400 devotees leave Jammu for Amarnath Yatra

Jammu: More than 4,400 people left Jammu to join the pilgrimage to the cave shrine of Amarnath in the south Kashmir Himalayas on Friday, amid tight security arrangements, officials said.

They will leave for the shrine, at a height of 3,880 metre, after reaching the two base camps of the yatra -- Baltal and Pahalgam.

Till Thursday, 2,66,955 people paid obeisance at cave shrine, the officials said.

The 52-day pilgrimage, which began on June 29, is underway amid a spate of terror attacks in the Jammu region and an ongoing massive search operation there to track down the terrorist behind an ambush in Kathua district on Monday, in which five army personnel were killed.

In view of the situation, the security at the Bhagwati Nagar base camp, from where the pilgrims embarked on their journey to Kashmir from Jammu, has been increased, the officials said.

The fifteenth batch of 4,434 pilgrims left in 165 vehicles for the base camps from 3 am and were escorted by CRPF security, they said.

While 2,713 pilgrims will take the 48-km traditional Pahalgam route for their yatra, 1,721 will take the shorter but steep 14-km Baltal route, the officials said. They said with this batch, the number of people who started from Jammu for the yatra is 81,644.

The pilgrimage will end on August 19.