Pulwama attack senseless and brutal, says UK

The UK government on Friday condemned the terrorist attack in Pulwama and termed it as a "senseless and brutal act". Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday. At least 42 CRPF personnel were killed on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 80 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district that also left many critically wounded. "Shocked by today's senseless and brutal act of terror in...Kashmir. I offer my sincere condolences to the victims' families. We stand with India," UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Twitter.

His statement came amid a widespread outpouring of support for India in the wake of the attack, with a number of British MPs taking to social media to condemn the terror strike.

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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 they were ambushed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway at Latoomode in Awantipora in south Kashmir.  

"I am deeply saddened by the terrorist attack in Kashmir. Thoughts are with the Indian security personnel killed and injured by this appalling crime, said Conservative Party MP Tom Tughendat, who is chairing the ongoing parliamentary Global Britain and India inquiry.

Another Tory MP and leader of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for British Hindus, Bob Blackman, also took to Twitter to say it was time for India to isolate Pakistan.

"Pulwama attack: India will 'completely isolate' Pakistan. We stand with India. Time to isolate & proscribe the terrorists responsible for this atrocity, he said.

Indian-origin Opposition Labour Party MP Virendra Sharma condemned the attack and called on the UK government to reconsider the reference to "India-administered Kashmir".

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"I was pleased to see the British Foreign Secretary, Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, has offered his sincere condolences to the victims' families, and stated that 'we stand with India', but I am concerned that he used the phrase 'India-administered Kashmir'," he said.

Sharma said he has written to the Foreign Secretary to reiterate that Kashmir is an integral part of the Indian state and has been since it formally acceded in 1947.