Pulwama terror attack: As many as eighteen CRPF jawans were martyred and over 40 injured on Thursday evening after terrorists attacked an army convoy with powerful explosives at Awantipora region in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district. Terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed responsibility for the attack. According to initial reports, two buses of the CRPF convoy were targeted in the attack and even gunshots were also heard after the IED blast. Reports also suggest that three battalions of CRPF with as many as 2,500 soldiers were being shifted in the convoy.

The stretch where the incident took place was largely believed to be sanitised of terror activities, and the authorities have termed to be a ‘serious breach’ of security. CRPF officials have said that an after blast investigation will be carried out to further analysis the details of the event.

The attack has surely shocked the nation and is touted to be the deadliest terror strike on security personnel similar to the one happened in Baramulla's Uri region back in September 2016. As many as four heavily armed militants targeted an army brigade headquarters which caused the death of as many as 19 soldiers.

Located barely a few kilometres from the Line of Control (LoC) and around 70 km from Srinagar, the base was subjected to the brazen attack by four terrorists at around 5.30 am on September 16, causing heavy casualties in the Dogra regiment which lost 19 of its men. 20 other army personnel were injured, some critically, and were airlifted to the army base hospital in Srinagar.

After at least three-hour gun-battle, all the terrorists were killed and the army was combing to ensure there were no other militants. Most of the army casualties resulted from the fire in tents in which jawans were sleeping. Days later, the Indian army had responded with a cross-border surgical strike in which several enemy installations were reportedly destroyed.