New Delhi: Despite the terror attack earlier in the week, over 9000 yatris paid respects at the Holy Cave of Amarnath on the 15th day of the ongoingYatra on Thursday. According to offficial figures till Thursday evening over 177000 Yatris had darshan of ice lingam since the beginning of the pilgrimage on June 29.

Earlier, a fresh batch of 3,500 pilgrims left Jammu base Camp early morning for the Kashmir Valley on Thursday.

The 40 day annual AmarnathYatra is in progress from both Baltal route in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district and Pahalgam route in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district. The Yatra will conclude on August 7, the ShrawanPurnima day coinciding with RakshaBandhan festival.

After the unfortunate loss of life and injuries to the Yatris in the Monday attack, the entire security apparatus has been put on high alert. Necessary instructions have been issued to strengthen Road Opening Party (ROP) network till late hours on Yatra route in Kashmir.

A multi-layered security arrangement is already in place that is manned by the Army, CRPF, SashastraSeemaBal (SSB), BSF and the Jammu and Kashmir Police.