Suicide bombing kills 33 Indian soldiers
SRINAGAR, India — At least 33 soldiers were killed and about 20 others wounded Thursday in a car-bomb attack on a paramilitary convoy along a key highway in India-controlled Kashmir, security officials said. It was one of the deadliest car bombings in the disputed region’s history.
Officials said a Kashmiri militant rammed an explosive-laden van into the convoy, targeting a bus carrying at least 35 soldiers.
Senior police officer Muneer Ahmed Khan said the attack occurred as the convoy reached southern Lethpora town on the outskirts of the main city of Srinagar. He said the bus was destroyed and at least five other vehicles were damaged by the blast.
Sanjay Sharma, a spokesman for India’s paramilitary police force, said many of the injured were in critical condition. “The blast was so powerful that one cannot recognize whether the vehicle was a bus or a truck. Just pieces of mangled steel remain of the vehicle,” he said.
Videos circulated by news groups showed ambulances rushing to the site and people running as smoke billowed from the damaged vehicles. Debris and body parts littered the road.
Authorities closed the highway after the blast. A police officer said soldiers and counterinsurgency police reinforcements were deployed in the area and were conducting searches.
The Greater Kashmir newspaper reported that militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for the attack.
A prerecorded nine-minute video, circulated on social media sites, showed the purported attacker in combat clothes and surrounded by guns and grenades. He was identified by news portals as a Kashmiri rebel named Adil Ahmed from the southern Pulwama area.