Jammu: At least 18 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.

Police identified the terrorist as Adil Ahmad from Kakapora in Pulwama responsible for this attack. He joined the Jaish-Mohammed in 2018. He was driving a car laden with explosive.

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 DG RR Bhatnagar said there were 2500 personnel in the convoy.

According to CRPF, a convoy started from Jammu at around 4.00 am with 70 vehicles and 2,500 CRPF personnel. Road opening party had cleared the route. The convoy had last checked in at Anantnag. A civilian car that hit the bus was laden with IED.

“By the time this video reaches you, I will be enjoying in heaven… This is my last message for the people of Kashmir,” Adil is heard saying. He exhorted the Kashmiri youth to wage jihad against India and for Islam. “Jaish has kept the flame alive and stayed put in adverse circumstances.. Come, join the group and prepare for one last fight,” Adil says in a heavily accented boyish voice.
In the Kashmiri language video, it is Adil’s picture and voice over, repeating almost the same message except for a few variations. He asks his family, friends and relatives “to celebrate his martyrdom for Islam” the way they celebrate weddings. Adil also gives Kashmiri youth Islamic sermons, urging women to wear veil and boys not to fall in love.

Towards the end, in the Kashmiri video, Adil says that Muslims across the world need to be freed from foreign occupiers, by way of martyrdom. He underlines the success of jihad waged by Taliban, which he claims ensured the defeat of the US in Afghanistan. The freedom of Muslims in Kashmir, he said, can be attained only by “martyrdom”.