At least 37 security personnel were killed on Thursday, 14 February, when a parked vehicle carrying an improvised explosive device (IED) blasted next to a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district. The blast ripped through two buses in the convoy.
While the J&K Police has identified the terrorist as Adil Ahmad from Kakapora in Pulwama, Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Meanwhile, Pakistan said the terrorist attack in Kashmir's Pulwama district is "a matter of grave concern" even as it strongly rejected Indian media and government's allegations of the country's link to the strike "without" probe.
The Ministry of External Affairs slammed Pakistan and said, “The Indian government condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the cowardly terrorist attack on India’s brave security forces in Pulwama.”
The MEA said JeM, the terror outfit that has claimed the attack, is led by international terrorist Masood Azhar, who has been given full freedom by the Pakistani government to operate and expand his terror infrastructure in territories under Pakistan's control and to carry out attacks in India and elsewhere with impunity.
US, Russia, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and several other countries across the world condemned the attack on Indian forces in Kashmir.
"The US strongly condemns today's terrorist attack in Jammu & Kashmir," tweeted US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster. French Ambassador to India Alexandre Ziegler said his country most firmly condemns the heinous attack perpetrated in Pulwama.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, too, condemned the terror attack and said, “We strongly condemn today’s attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district and express our deepest condolences to the families of those who lost their lives and to the Government and people of India.”
The convoy of 78 vehicles was carrying 2,547 personnel. It was attacked at 2.03 pm. One of the two buses that was badly hit was carrying 37 personnel.
A CRPF official told The Quint that prima facie, it seems the bomb was planted in another vehicle, which was parked on the highway. The moment the blast took place, terrorists opened fired on the convoy.
The jawans were returning from a holiday and were supposed to reach Srinagar before sunset. The convoy started from Jammu around 3 am in the morning.
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