Indian soldiers killed in car bomb attack

MILITANT GROUP RESPONSIBLE

AT least 12 Indian soldiers were killed and 40 others wounded in a car bomb attack on a convoy in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Senior police officer Muneer Ahmed Khan said the attack occurred as the convoy reached Pampore on the outskirts of the disputed region’s city of Srinagar.

He said a bus was destroyed and at least five other vehicles were damaged by the blast.

Officials said the bus was carrying at least 35 soldiers.

Authorities blamed rebels fighting against Indian rule for the attack.

Mr Khan said soldiers and counter-insurgency police reinforcements were deployed in the area.

Sanjay Sharma, a spokesman for India’s paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force, said many of the injured were in a critical condition.

“The blast was so powerful that one cannot recognise whether the vehicle was a bus or a truck. Just pieces of mangled steel remain of the vehicle,” he said.

The Greater Kashmir newspaper reported that militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for the attack.

A pre-recorded nine-minute video, circulated on social media sites, showed the purported attacker in combat clothes and surrounded by guns and grenades. He was identified as a Kashmiri rebel named Adil Ahmed from the southern Pulwama area.