Seven years of dastardly Pulwama attack; India pays tribute to the 40 brave martyrs

NEW DELHI: February 14, regarded as a day of mirth and romance, is unlikely to evoke the same feeling among Indians, particularly considering the dastardly attack that bruised the nation seven years ago. Today is the seventh anniversary of the Pulwama terror attack, when Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist Adeel Ahmed Dar drove an explosive-laden car into a CRPF convoy, targeting a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying over 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel from Jammu to Srinagar.

The attack took place near Awantipora in the Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir. Investigations revealed that the car in which the suicide bomber arrived was carrying 300 kilograms of explosives, including 80 kilograms of RDX and ammonium nitrate.

The car and bus were destroyed beyond recognition in the massive explosion. Bodies were scattered for a hundred meters. The buses that followed were also damaged. There were 40 people in the 76th Battalion bus that was hit by the suicide bomber. Among those who died was a Malayali soldier, Vasantha Kumar, a jawan in the 82nd Battalion.

India responded with the Balakot airstrike. On February 26, 2019, the Indian Air Force attacked a terrorist camp in the Balakot region of Pakistan to avenge the heroic death of CRPF jawans. About three hundred terrorists were killed in the airstrike.