269 pilgrims leave for Amarnath Yatra

Jammu : A small batch of 269 Amarnath pilgrims on Friday left Jammu for the cave shrine in the Kashmir Valley, police said.

"The Yatris left the Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas here for the Valley today morning in an escorted convoy of 15 vehicles," police sources said.

This batch include pilgrims going both to the Baltal and Pahalgam base camps.

The number of pilgrims has been steadily decreasing as the 60-day long Yatra has been going on for the last 44 days since it started on June 28.

Over 2.77 lakh pilgrims have performed the Yatra so far.

This year more pilgrims have performed the Yatra than during the last three years.

The pilgrimage will end on August 26 coinciding with Shravan Purnima festival.