Jammu/Srinagar, July 26 -- After a six-day suspension, the annual Amarnath Yatra and the pilgrimage to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine resumed on Saturday.

The Amarnath pilgrimage restarted with a fresh batch of 6,269 devotees leaving the Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas base camp in Jammu for Baltal following an improvement in weather conditions, officials said.

"Following improvement in weather conditions, the 18th batch of pilgrims, comprising 6,269 devotees-including 1,470 women, 25 children, and 54 sadhus-left in a convoy of 223 vehicles under tight security at 2.40am," Jammu divisional commissioner Ramesh Kumar said, adding no convoy was despatched for the Pahalgam route.

Divisional commissioner Kashmir, Anshul Garg, said that the Amarnat...