Pulwama Attack: IAF C17 to bring back bodies of CRPF personnel, PM Modi to pay tribute in Delhi

The Indian Air Force's Globemaster C-17 will bring back the bodies of the CRPF personnel, killed in Thursday's terror attack on the Jammu-Srinagar highway, from to Srinagar to Delhi on Friday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other ministers will pay their tributes to the soldiers at Palam airport in Delhi during the wreath-laying ceremony.

The bodies of 12 personnel will be brought to the Hindon Airbase in Ghaziabad around 3.30 pm and then will be taken to their native place in Uttar Pradesh later in the evening. While a majority of the 37 bodies have been identified, some of them have been mangled beyond recognition. A home ministry official said arrangements have been made to hand over the bodies to the families. Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who is visiting Jammu and Kashmir to take stock of the situation in the wake of the terror attack, Governor Satya Pal Malik, DG of CRPF R R Bhatnagar will pay their last respect to the departed souls in Srinagar before the bodies are flown out of the state.

As many as 42 CRPF jawans were killed and dozens of others injured after an SUV with 350 kg of explosives hit a bus carrying the personnel in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday. The vehicle was blown up by an improvised explosive device or IED explosion on Srinagar-Jammu highway in the Awantipora area of the district, a police official said, adding that the exact number of the deceased is yet to be ascertained. After 2016 Uri terror attack, this is considered to be the deadliest terror strikes in Jammu and Kashmir in nearly two decades. The incident occurred at Lethpora on the Srinagar-Anantnag highway followed by gunshots aimed at the security forces in Pulwama district.