At 8:20 pm on the night of Monday, 10 July, as a chartered bus carrying pilgrims from Gujarat and Maharashtra, after concluding a pilgrimage to Amarnath, returned down the national highway towards the Banihal pass, it was fired upon by three motorcycle-borne terrorists.

The bus was carrying 56 Amarnath pilgrims to Jammu from Baltal, the base camp for vehicular transport to the pilgrimage centre, the lofty cave enshrining Amarnath. It was passing Batengoo in Anantnag district, close to the district headquarters and 65 km south of Srinagar, whence it had departed at 5:30 pm.