37 Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldiers have been killed in Indian administered Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the bus they were travelling in.
20 people were injured in the attack that reduced the bus to a heap of iron.
More than 2,500 Indian CRPF personnel, many returning from leave, were travelling on the Srinagar-Jammu highway, in a convoy of 78 vehicles when they were ambushed. The bus that was the focus of the attack belongs to the 76th battalion of the force and had 39 personnel on board, officials said.
CRPF Inspector General (Operations) in the Kashmir Valley Zulfiqar Hasan described it as a "vehicle-bound attack"
Suicide bomber driving the vehicle was identified as Adil Ahmad from Kakapora.
Following the attack "Security forces have been given complete freedom”, said Indian PM Narendra Modi to deal with Kashmiri militants.
The Shiv Sena said Monday that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir has worsened under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In October last year; CPI(M) MLA from Jammu and Kashmir M Y Tarigami on Thursday accused the Centre of contributing to the cycle of violence in the state with its use of disproportionate force to quell unrest. "While violence has engulfed Kashmir, the response of Government of India has only been the use of disproportionate force which contributes to the vicious cycle of violence," the Kulgam MLA told reporters.
In October last year a PhD scholar was killed in Kashmir by Indian Security Forces, along with another Kashmiri.
In Dec last year AP published an article saying “Violence is rising again in the region, where India has presided over a bloody campaign to hunt down those fighting a quixotic battle for independence,” and “Gone are the days when the sight of an armored vehicle was enough to send entire villages into hiding. Now, civilians are rushing in front of the heavily armed trucks, using stones and their own bodies to try to block security forces,” the dispatch said.
Human rights organisations have claimed constant human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir, a disputed territory administered by India, including mass killings, forced disappearances, torture, rape and sexual abuse to political repression and suppression of freedom of speech.
UN human rights report on Kashmir in June 2018 has called for international inquiry into ongoing human rights violations and abuses in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Impunity for human rights violations and lack of access to justice are key human rights challenges in the state of Jammu and Kashmir,” the report says, noting that the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act 1990 (AFSPA) and the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act 1978 (PSA) have “created structures that obstruct the normal course of law, impede accountability and jeopardize the right to remedy for victims of human rights violations.”
