More than 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were reportedly killed in a major attack on a CRPF convoy in Awantipora in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district today. Around 40 have been injured in the attack after terrorists targeted a convoy with an explosive. Terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed responsibility for the attack. Fifteen of those injured are in critical conditions. According to news agency ANI, gunshots were reported from the scene after the blast occurred. The injured have been moved to the army base hospital in Srinagar.
The IED blast in Goripora area was followed by gunshots, news agency ANI reported. This is said to be the worst terror strike on security personnel since the Uri attack in September 2016, when four heavily armed terrorists targeted an army brigade headquarters -- resulting in over 17 casualties.
Leaders cutting across all political parties have condemned the Pulwama IED blast. PM Narendra Modi tweeted on the Pulwama attack, saying the "attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable." Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Omar Abdullah, Arun Jaitley, Mehbooba Mufti, Piyush Goyal, Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and many others tweeted their condemnation of the IED blast in Pulwama.
International reactions to the Pulwama attack have also condemned the incident. The US, Russia, Maldives, Bhutan and Sri Lanka have all condemned the attack on the CRPF convoy.