Srinagar: Forty-four armed forces personnel were killed in a suicide bomb attack in Lethpora area along the Srinagar-Jammu highway in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, Thursday afternoon.
An official of the CRPF said that a “suicide car bomber” rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the bus near Lethpora at around 03:15 pm, resulting into an intensive blast in which 44 paramilitary personnel of the CRPF were killed.
“A total of 44 CRPF men belonging to different battalions were travelling in the vehicle when the blast occurred,” the CRPF official said. He said that the CRPF men belonged to 92, 17 and 54 battalions.
The officer said that the wounded CRPF men were shifted to army’s 92 base hospital.
Following the blast traffic was briefly suspended on the highway as forces cordoned off the entire area and launched searches.
Militant outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsibility of the attack.
A JeM spokesperson Muhammad Hassan in a statement issued to news agency GNS said “dozens of forces’ vehicles were destroyed in the attack”. The spokesperson identified the driver (of JeM) who carried out the ‘fidayeen’ attack as Aadil Ahmad alias Waqas Commando of Gundi Bagh, Pulwama.
While condemning the attack, National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah said:
Jaish has claimed the blast as a suicide (fidaeen) attack reminiscent of the dark days of militancy pre 2004-05. #Kashmir
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 14, 2019
PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti, in a tweet said that ‘how many more lives will be snuffed out before this madness ends.’
Disturbing news coming in from #awantipura . Twelve of our security personnel have been martyred and several have been injured. No words are enough to condemn the gruesome terror attack. How many more lives will be snuffed out before this madness ends?
— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) February 14, 2019
Governor Satya Pal Malik has strongly condemned the militant attack.
“Such actions will not deter the resolve of our security forces and people, and we will finish these inimical forces to the last,” he said and urged all the security forces commanders to “enhance surveillance on every front and directed the District and Divisional Civil and Police Administration to immediately review the security management of all important installations and establishments.
Governor Malik expressed serious concern about the attack on the armed forces and said that those responsible for insurgency in J&K are “desperate and frustrated and they just want to prove their presence”.
