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    Biggest Terror Attack In Kashmir: Suicide Bomber Kills At Least 43 CRPF Jawans; JeM Claims Responsibility

    Darpan News Desk IANS, 14 Feb, 2019 07:26 PM

      In the worst-ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 43 troopers and leaving the security established stunned.

       

      The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the horror and released a video clip of the suicide bomber, a 'commander' identified as Adil Ahmad Dar, which it claimed was shot before the young man carried out the strike in Lethpora, about 30 km from here.

       
       
       
       

      Even as a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and comprising the Home, Defence, External Affairs and Finance Ministers, was called for on Friday morning, the government said it was "firmly and resolutely committed to take all necessary measures to safeguard national security".

       
       
       
       

      While precise details of the attack were still unclear, police sources said the suicide bomber-driven SUV came along the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) bus when a 78-vehicle convoy carrying 2,547 security personnel was going from the transit camp in Jammu to Srinagar and rammed it into the bus around 3.15 p.m., triggering a deafening explosion.

       
       
       
       

      So devastating was the attack -- one report spoke of 200 kg of explosives, including probably RDX, packed into the SUV -- that the CRPF bus was left a mangled heap, many of its occupants losing their limbs.

       

      CRPF officials said the bus which was the main target of the militants was destroyed fully while another CRPF vehicle was partly damaged. "It is difficult to believe how anyone in that bus could have survived," said a police officer.

       

       

      In a statement to a local news agency GNS, a caller claiming to be a spokesman of JeM said it was a 'fidayeen' (suicide) attack.

       
       
       
       

      All the injured were shifted to the Army's 92 Base Hospital in the Badamibagh cantonment of Srinagar city. Some of them were in critical condition.

       

      All traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway came to an abrupt halt. Senior police and CRPF officers rushed to the spot for a post-explosion analysis.

       

      An officer said the CRPF and police would carry out a detailed investigation to understand the circumstances in which the attack took place.

       
       
       
       

      Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation in condemning the horror.

       

      "The attack ... 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," he tweeted.

       

      Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was to visit Bihar on Friday, is set to reach Srinagar instead. Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba cut short his visit to Bhutan to rush to Srinagar for a high-level security meeting on Friday.

       

      "Today's dastardly attack ... is extremely painful and disturbing. I bow to each and every CRPF jawan who has sacrificed his life in service to the nation," Rajnath Singh said.

       
       
       
       

      The government, stressing that the "heinous and despicable act has been perpetrated by Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based and supported terrorist organisation proscribed by the United Nations and other countries", demanded that Pakistan "stop supporting terrorists and terror groups operating from their territory and dismantle the infrastructure operated by terrorist outfits to launch attacks in other countries".

       
       
       
       

      New Delhi also reiterated its appeal to the international community to support the proposal to list terrorists, including JeM Chief Masood Azhar, as a designated terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council.

       

      This is the worst single attack in Jammu and Kashmir since a nascent Pakistan-backed separatist campaign began in 1989. It is also the worst attack carried out by militants after the one on the Uri Army camp on September 18, 2016 left 19 soldiers dead -- forcing New Delhi to launch 'surgical strikes' on terrorist camps in Pakistan.

       
       
       
       

      Officials said the reason why so many CRPF personnel were on the move at one go was because the Srinagar-Jammu highway had been shut the past two days due to bad weather. The convoy left Jammu before dawn.

       
       
       
       

      UN chief condemns Pulwama attack, calls for those behind the attack to be brought to justice

       
       

      UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres "strongly" condemned the terror attack against security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, perpetrated by Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed, calling for those behind the attack to be brought to justice.

       

      In one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir's three decades of militancy, a Jaish suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus in Pulwama district, killing at least 39 personnel and leaving many critically wounded.

       

      "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," Guterres's spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at the daily press briefing here Thursday.

       
       
       
       

      Responding to a question on the terror attack, Dujarric said, "We of course wish a speedy recovery to those injured and call for those behind the attack to be brought to justice."

       

      When asked about New Delhi's appeal to the international community to support India's proposal to list terrorists, including JeM chief Masood Azhar, as a designated terrorist under the UN Security Council's Sanctions Committee and to ban terrorist organisations operating from territories controlled by Pakistan, Dujarric said the "issue of listing of terror organisations is one that is in the hands of the Security Council".

       
       
       

      Explosion on CRPF convoy in Pulwama was heard 10 km away: Locals

       

      The scene of devastation and destruction caused on Thursday by the suicide car bomb attack that killed at least 39 security personnel sent chills down the spine of unsuspecting locals who witnessed the blood bath in Pulwama district’s Awantipora area, about 20 km from here.

       

      The explosive used in the attack was so strong that the blast was heard from 10-12 km away, including some parts of Srinagar adjoining the Pulwama district, locals said.

       

      Body parts of the terrorist, identified as Adil Ahmad, and the CRPF personnel killed in the attack were strewn on the Jammu-Srinagar highway, where the incident happened.

       
       
       
       

      Some of the bodies were so badly blown up that officials feel it may take some time to identity them.

       

      This was the first suicide car bomb strike in Kashmir since the 2001 attack on the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly that left 41 persons, including three suicide attackers, dead.

       

      More than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley, were travelling in the convoy of 78 vehicles when the suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into a bus carrying 39-44 jawans, officials said.

       
       

      There was nothing at the scene of the incident to suggest which type of vehicle was used to carry out the attack except the mangled heap of iron of the bus that was the target.

       

      As soon as the explosion took place, people started running for safety. The shopkeepers at Lethpora market, which is less than 300 metres from the scene of the attack, downed their shutters and fled.

       

      The scene of the incident is not very far from the Commando Training Centre at Lethpora, which was stormed by Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists on December 31, 2017, killing five CRPF personnel.

       
       
       
       

      The Jammu-Srinagar highway has been witness to several terror attacks on the security forces.

       

      CRPF bore the brunt of an attack at Pampore, less than seven kilometres from Lethpora, in June 2016, losing eight jawans while 22 others sustained injuries.

       

      Terrorists had attacked a CRPF convoy in Pampore area in February that year as well, before taking refuge at a government building.

       

      The operation against the holed up terrorists lasted more than two days and resulted in death of nine persons, including three Army men and three ultras.

       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
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