40 jawans killed in terror attack on CRPF convoy
KASHMIR JEM militant rams explosive laden vehicle into bus carrying them
LETHPORA/SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI: At least 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed and dozens injured after a suicide bomber struck a bus carrying jawans near Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, said officials, in what was the deadliest attack on Indian forces in over a decade.
A militant of the Jaish-e-mohammed (JEM), which claimed responsibility for the attack, rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a bus — part of a CRPF convoy — at around 3.15pm, reducing one of the vehicles to a mangled heap of iron, said officials. Body parts could be seen strewn around the area.
The vehicle belonged to 54th Battalion, CRPF officials said.
“There were 78 vehicles in the convoy and one of the vehicles came under attack. The convoy was on its way from Jammu to Srinagar,” said CRPF (operations) inspector General Zulfiqar Hassan, adding that the Jammu and Kashmir Police have taken over the investigation into the attack.
“There were about 2,500 personnel in the convoy,” CRPF director general RR Bhatnagar said. Union home minister Rajnath Singh spoke to J&K governor Satyapal Malik to take stock of the situation, home ministry officials said. Singh is likely to visit the state on Friday.
JEM said it was a suicide attack carried out by local man, Adil Ahmad Dar alias Waqas, of village Gundibagh Kakapora of Pulwama. He joined the terror group in March 2018.
The incident took place at Lethpora in Pulwama district, about 30 kilometres from the state capital, on the Jammu-srinagar highway.
A spokesperson for the J&K Police confirmed it was an improvised explosive device (IED) blast. Battalion
Usually, 1,000 personnel are part of a convoy
The Jammu-srinagar highway was blocked since over a week and there was no movement of troops. Hence the high number of casualties
There are around 500,000 soldiers stationed in J&K