At least 18 CRPF personnel were killed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Thursday when a Jaish-e-Mohammed militant rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the bus they were travelling in, officials said.
Video footage from the area showed people running for cover as smoke billowed from the remains of a CRPF vehicle hit by the blast.
A police official said that around 3:15 pm, militants rammed the car fitted with explosives into the CRPF bus, triggered off an intensive blast, reported GNS news agency.
The group has claimed responsibility for the attack, they said.
Police identified the ‘Fidayeen’ as Adil Ahmad from Kakapora in Pulwama. He joined the Jaish-Mohammed in 2018, they said.
The casualties are likely to go up.
Dozens of forces’ personnel were wounded in the 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. (With PTI inputs)