CRPF was back on same road hours after attack

NEW DELHI: Hours after the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) lost 40 soldiers in a suicide attack on the Jammu-srinagar highway Pulwama last Thursday, convoys carrying more soldiers were back on the same road – this time carrying personnel going on leave from Srinagar to Jammu.

At least 25 buses carrying 500 soldiers from the Valley reached Jammu by the same route on Saturday. The next day, on Sunday, another 32 CRPF buses carrying 350 soldiers, also going on leave, moved to Jammu using the same route, a senior CRPF official who did not want to be quoted said.

The CRPF deploys 50 battalions, each comprising 1,200 soldiers, in the Kashmir Valley. Another 11-13 batallions are deployed in the Jammu region.

“There is substantial turnaround of soldiers. Airlifting is not an option. Importantly, we have to keep the highways and roads open,” said a second senior CRPF officer who did not want to be named.

“The attack was set back, but that cannot bog us down,” he said.

The CRPF, however, did adopt a different tack while transporting the next tranche of soldiers.

Slip and feeder roads connecting to the highway were blocked when the convoys moved. Initial investigation has indicated that Adil Ahmed Dar, the suicide bomber, drove up to the convoy on Thursday afternoon from a feeder road linking the highway to nearby Pulwama.

In addition, an “adequate number” of bulletproof, gunmounted escorts accompanied the convoys . “We are working on revising the security detail of convoys. It will have more elements for quick reaction,” the second officer quoted above said, without disclosing the details.