40 CRPF men killed in blast in Kashmir

Nearly 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed and many others injured when terrorists targeted a convoy with a car bomb at Awantipora in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district Thursday.

Initial reports suggested that the vehicle used by the terrorists was a Mahindra Scorpio bearing more than 350 kg of explosives.

The injured have been moved to the army base hospital in Srinagar. Terrorist group Jaish-e Mohammed has claimed responsibility for the attack, reports NDTV.

Home Ministry sources said that terrorists triggered the car bomb while the convoy of 78 CRPF vehicles was driving through the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Goripora area. The stretch on which the incident occurred was largely believed to be sanitised, and authorities have termed it as a "serious breach" of security.

Photographs showed charred remains of at least one vehicle littered across the highway, alongside blue military buses as black smoke billowed into the sky. Official sources said that the attack was carried out by one Adil Ahmad Dar alias "Waqas Commando". A resident of Kakapora, he had joined the terror outfit last year.

The affected bus reportedly belonged to the 76th Batallion of the CRPF, and it was carrying as many as 39 personnel. Bullet marks on the bus indicated that more terrorists may have fired at the convoy from hiding after the explosion.

Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh lashed out at the terrorists who had carried out the attack. "As a soldier and a citizen of India, my blood boils at the spineless and cowardly attacks...  bravehearts from  @crpfindia laid down their lives in #Pulwama. I salute their selfless sacrifice & promise that every drop of our soldier's blood will be avenged," he tweeted. Union Minister Arun Jaitley expressed a similar sentiment on the social networking site.

The Home Ministry termed it as a "possible suicide attack", but there was no confirmation on the manner in which the Kashmir terrorist attack was executed.

The convoy was carrying over 2,500 personnel. According to news agency IANS, so many personnel were being transported at one go because the Srinagar-Jammu highway had been shut for the last two days due to bad weather. The convoy had left Jammu around 3:30 pm.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi said he was deeply disturbed by the "cowardly attack" on the CRPF convoy. "My condolences to the families of our martyrs. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured," he tweeted about the Pulwama attack.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted the sacrifices will not go in vain. "The attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. May the injured recover quickly," he said.

BJP leader Jitendra Singh took the opportunity to target parties based in Kashmir. "The dastardly attack on CRPF personnel is a desperate act by terrorists on the run. While the entire nation stands with the Indian security forces, will this also be an eye opener for Kashmir-centric politicians who are always apologetic on such occasions?" he questioned.

The National Investigation Agency is likely to probe the attack along with the state police. A fully equipped NIA team will set off for Kashmir tomorrow morning to assist the Jammu and Kashmir Police in their investigations. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will also visit Srinagar tomorrow to review the situation.

The scale of this terror strike has exceeded even that of the Uri attack on September 2016, when four heavily armed terrorists targeted an army brigade headquarters -- causing 19 deaths. The Indian army had responded with a cross-border surgical strike in which several enemy installations were reportedly destroyed.

This is the worst terror attack to take place in Kashmir since the start of the century. On October 1, 2001, three terrorists had rammed a Tata Sumo loaded with explosives into the main gate of the Jammu and Kashmir State Legislative Assembly complex in Srinagar -- killing 38 people.