Car bombing kills 33 Indian soldiers, hurts 20 in Kashmir
NEW DELHI — At least 33 paramilitary police officers were killed and 20 injured by a massive car bomb in Indian-controlled Kashmir in the worst attack on security personnel since the start of the insurgency in the disputed region three decades ago.
The attack occurred Thursday afternoon, police officials said, as a security convoy of 70 vehicles traveled down a highway toward the city of Srinagar.
An explosive-laden vehicle driven by a suicide bomber rammed into a bus carrying dozens of paramilitary soldiers, said Sanjay Sharma, a spokesperson for India’s Central Reserve Police Force.
The killings will inflame tensions between nucleararmed rivals India and Pakistan, which both claim the Himalayan territory of Kashmir. India accuses Pakistan of sheltering and supporting militants that cross into Indian- controlled territory to carry out attacks against Indian rule.
Kashmir is part of India’s only Muslim- majority state. Since 1989, militants have waged attacks against Indian forces in Kashmir, fighting either for the terri- tory’s independence or its merger with Pakistan.
Jaish-e-Mohammed, or Army of Mohammed, a militant group that seeks to merge Indian-held Kashmir with Pakistan, claimed responsibility for Thursday’s attack. Based in Pakistan, the group is led by a radical cleric named Masood Azhar.
The United States labeled Army of Mohammed a terrorist organization nearly two decades ago. In 2017, Washington pushed the U.N. Security Council to designate Azhar as a terrorist, but the move was vetoed by China.
Police officials said that the death toll in Thursday’s attack could rise. With 33 officers confirmed killed, it was one of the deadliest militant assaults on security personnel in Kashmir and one of the worst attacks in the history of the insurgency. In 2001, an attack on the state legislature left at least 38 dead.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is seeking re-election later this spring, called the attack “despicable” in a post on Twitter. “I strongly condemn this dastardly attack,” he wrote. “The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain.”
Modi has taken a tough line on matters of national security.
In 2016, a team of militants stormed an army base near the town of Uri in Indian- held Kashmir, killing 19 soldiers. In the days after the Uri attack, Modi ordered what the government termed “surgical strikes” on militant hideouts just inside Pakistan-controlled territory.
A statement issued Thursday by India’s foreign ministry pointed the finger at the country’s neighbor. The leader of Army of Mohammed has “been given full freedom” by the government of Pakistan to “carry out attacks in India and elsewhere with impunity,” it said.
A spokesman for Pakistan’s government said on Twitter that it “strongly” rejected any insinuation linking the attack to Pakistan “without investigations.”
Indian news outlets showed images of the wreckage left by the attack.
Kenneth Juster, the U.S. ambassador to India, posted a statement on Twitter condemning the attack and sending condolences to the families of the victims.
“The United States stands alongside India in confronting terror and defeating it,” he wrote.
Associated Press contributed.