Srinagar: At least 30 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Thursday, when a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the bus they were travelling in, officials said.
The terror group has claimed responsibility for the incident, they said.
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 they were ambushed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway at Latoomode in Awantipora.
Police identified the terrorist as Adil Ahmad from Kakapora, in Pulwama. He joined the Jaish-Mohammed in 2018, they said.
The casualties are likely to go up.
Several people were injured in the terror attack, which reduced the bus to a mangled heap of iron. Body parts could be strewn around the area.
The vehicle was blown up on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Awantipora area of the district, a police official said.
CRPF Inspector General (Operations) in the Kashmir Valley Zulfiqar Hasan described it as a “vehicle-bound attack” and said Jammu and Kashmir Police has taken up the investigation.