New Delhi: The Kashmir Police on February 8 had sent an intelligence input to the CRPF, BSF, ITBP, SSB, Army and the Air Force warning of a possible IED attack, according to a letter written by the state police Inspector General.
It is not known why despite the early warning, the CRPF allowed its 78-vehicle convoy carrying 2,547 security personnel to go from the transit camp in Jammu to Srinagar — a 270-km stretch.
In the worst-ever attack since militancy erupted in the state, 45 CRPF personnel died and many others were injured on Thursday afternoon when a suicide bomber belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed rammed his vehicle packed with improvised explosive device (IED) into a bus carrying Central paramilitary force personnel.
The intelligence input, sent on behalf of the Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, asked all security agencies to “sanitize areas properly before occupying your place or deployment as there are inputs that IEDs could be used”.
Marked “Extremely Urgent”, the letter accessed by IANS, was marked to the Deputy Inspector General of Central Reserve Police Force, South Srinagar; DIG CRPF, North Srinagar; DIG CRPF North Kashmir, Baramulla; DIG CRPF South Kashmir, Awantipora; DIG CRPF South Kashmir, Anantnag; DIG Sashastra Seema Bal, South Headquarters (Special Operations) Kashmir and all Senior Superintendents of Police of Kashmir zone.
The information was also shared with Inspector General, CRPF, Kashmir operations sector, IG CRPF, Srinagar sector, IG Border Security Force Headquarter Kashmir, all range Deputy Inspector Generals of Police of Kashmir zone, Brigadier General Staff (operations) at the Srinagar-based 15 Corps, the DIG Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), the Air Force, , the Commandant Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and SSP, Armed Police, Control Room Srinagar.
The letter also mentioned that it should be for “all concerned”.
A suicide bomber, affiliated with Pakistan-based JeM terror group, rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Pulwama district, killing 45 troopers and leaving the security established stunned. The incident took place around 3.15 p.m., triggering a deafening explosion.
Claiming they responsibility for the horrible terror attack JeM released the video clip of the suicide bomber identifying as Adil Ahmad Dar which was shot before the suicide carried out the strike in Lethpora, 30-km from here.
So devastating was the attack — one report spoke of 200 kg of explosives, including probably RDX, packed into the SUV — that the CRPF bus was left in a mangled heap, many of the CRPF jawan’s lost their limbs.
CRPF officials said the bus which was the main target of the militants was completely destroyed while another CRPF vehicle was partly damaged. “It is hard to believe that how anyone in that bus may have possibly survived,” police officer said.
This is the horrible single attack in Jammu and Kashmir since a growing Pakistan-backed separatist campaign which began in the year 1989. It is the worst attack carried out by militants after the Uri Army camp attack on September 18, 2016 in which 19 soldiers died– forcing the New Delhi to launch ‘surgical strikes’ on terrorist camps in Pakistan.
Because of the the Jammu-Srinagar highway was shut for the past 2 days due to the bad weather conditions many CRPF personals convoy were on the move which left Jammu before down, Officials Said.
(By Rajnish Singh, he can be contacted at [email protected])
