At least 44 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed after a suicide bomber rammed his SUV, laden with 300 kilograms of explosives, into a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Kashmir’s Pulwama district. Scores were injured in the Kashmir terror attack.
Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) claimed the responsibility for the attack. The suicide bomber was identified as Adil Ahmed Dar, native of Kakapora tehsil in Pulwama district, who officials said joined the terror group in 2018.
The Prime Minister, after chairing a Cabinet Committee on Security meeting with his top ministers, said the security forces have been given full freedom to retaliate. “The forces behind this act of terrorism & those responsible for it, will be definitely be punished,” he said. Union Minister Arun Jaitley, who resumed charge as finance minister on Friday, said the government will initiate all possible diplomatic steps to ensure Pakistan’s complete isolation from the international community for having a direct hand in this attack.