For CRPF, Pulwama attack a ‘massive setback’, a new challenge

Kashmir terror attack LIVE updates

The scale of Thursday’s attack can be gauged from the fact that in the whole of 2018, CRPF did not lose as many men as it did on Thursday. According to Union Home Ministry’s figures, CRPF lost 30 men in terror attacks in 2018.

“It is a massive setback for morale of the force,” a CRPF officer said. “Most men who came under attack on Thursday were returning from leave and were to join duty in Srinagar. It will take some time for the force to recover from it, but we have suffered worse casualties in Chhattisgarh and come out of it.”

A second bus was also hit but there were no casualties reported from it although some passengers onboard were injured. (Express Photo: Shuaib Masoodi)

Going by casualty figures, CRPF faces graver danger in Maoist terror-affected areas than in J&K. In 2010, during the Chintalnar ambush in the heart of Bastar, Chhattisgarh, the paramilitary force CRPF lost 76 men. Its vehicles, even armoured ones, are often blown up by Maoists in Bastar, and double-figure casualties are not uncommon there.

The Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed the bomber was Adil Ahmad Dar, a resident of Gundibagh village in south Kashmir’s Pulwama, who had joined Jaish in March last year. (Express Photo: Shuaib Masoodi)

In fact, before the 2016 killing of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani, which threw the Valley into a violent turmoil, CRPF personnel had begun calling Kashmir a peace posting.

“If a CRPF person had a choice between Kashmir and Chhattisgarh, he would go for Kashmir,” a CRPF officer who has worked in both states said.

Security personnel near Awantipora blast site. (Express Photo: Shuaib Masoodi)

Sources said the nature of the attack is also a reason why the Awantipora attack will leave a psychological impact. “This attack is so massive that we have not been able to count the number of bodies yet. Some bodies are totally disfigured; we may have to depend on DNA tests to identify them. We are still trying to figure out which limb belongs to which body,” an officer said.

Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed the bomber was Adil Ahmad Dar of Pulwama

The CRPF, officials said, is not used to improvised explosive device (IED) attacks in Kashmir, let alone car-borne suicide bombers. IEDs were a regularity in Kashmir during the peak of militancy, but from mid-2000s militant attacks largely centred around gunfight and grenade attacks. IEDs, officials said, have made a comeback following Wani’s killing in 2016.

There was just one IED attack in the Valley in 2017; there were less than 10 such attacks recorded the last year. There have been only three vehicle-borne suicide attacks, sources said, in the history of militancy in Kashmir — none as lethal as Thursday’s attack.

The bus, ferrying 42 soldiers, was part of a convoy moving from Jammu to Srinagar of 78 vehicles ferrying 2,547 CRPF personnel. (Express Photo: Shuaib Masoodi)

“This brings to the fore a new threat and a new challenge for all security forces in the Valley. We will have to devise ways to counter it,” a CRPF officer said.

There are more than 60 CRPF battalions (60,000 personnel) in J&K, most of them posted in the Valley.