NSG, NIA teams to join investigation in Pulwama terror attack

Experts of the anti-terror commando force National Security Guard (NSG) and investigators of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) are being sent to Jammu and Kashmir to join the probe into the terror attack in Pulwama in which at least 42 CRPF personnel were killed, officials said on Thursday. The decision was taken in view of the high number of casualties in the worst terror strike in the state since the Uri attack in 2016.

An NIA team with forensic experts is being sent to Srinagar to assist Jammu and Kashmir Police in forensic evaluation of the scene of crime, a home ministry official said. Explosive specialists of the Black Cat commando force NSG will also join in the investigation into the attack, another official said.

At least 42 CRPF personnel were killed in Pulwama district when a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into their bus.

The CRPF personnel were killed when a terrorist rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the bus they were travelling in. Reports suggest that there were nearly 70 vehicles in the convoy in which around 2500 personnel were traveling. "Senior officers at the spot, the investigation is underway. Injured being taken care of. There were 2500 personnel in the convoy," CRPF DG RR Bhatnagar said.

This was the first suicide car bomb strike in Kashmir since the 2001 attack on the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly that left 41 persons, including three suicide attackers, dead.

More than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley, were travelling in the convoy of 78 vehicles when the suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into a bus carrying 39-44 jawans, officials said.

There was nothing at the scene of the incident to suggest which type of vehicle was used to carry out the attack except the mangled heap of iron of the bus that was the target.