World condemns suicide attack in India Indian soldiers examine the debris after an explosion in Lethpora in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Thursday. Indian soldiers examine the debris after an explosion in Lethpora in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Thursday. Reuters NEW DELHI (ANI) – The international community has extended support to India following a deadly suicide bombing which claimed the lives of nearly 40 security personnel in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. As many as 48 countries on Saturday condemned the ghastly terror attack that shook the nation on Thursday. The White House released a statement condemning the “heinous terrorist attack” by a Pakistan-based terrorist group. “We express our deep condolences to the victims’ families, the Indian government, and the Indian people for the loss of life in this brutal attack,” the statement read. The United States also called on Pakistan to end immediately the support and safe haven provided to all terrorist groups operating on its soil, whose only goal is to sow chaos, violence, and terror in the region. “This attack only strengthens our resolve to bolster counterterrorism cooperation and coordination between the United States and India,” read the statement. The US State Department issued a statement assuring that the United States is resolutely committed to working with the Indian government to combat terrorism in all its forms. “The UN designated, Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Muhammad has claimed responsibility for this heinous act. We call on all countries to uphold their responsibilities pursuant to UN Security Council resolutions to deny safe haven and support for terrorists,” the State Department stated in the press release. The United Nations on Thursday strongly condemned the terrorist attack. “We strongly condemn today’s attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama. We express our deepest condolences to the families of those who lost their lives and to the people and the Government of India. We wish a speedy recovery to injured and call for those behind the attack to be brought to justice,” the UN said in a statement. Russia denounced terrorism in all its forms and manifestation. The Embassy of the Russian Federation tweeted, “We denounce terrorism in all its forms & reiterate the need to combat these inhuman acts with decisive & collective response without any double standards. We express condolences to families of the deceased & wish a speedy recovery to injured.” French Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian termed the Pulwama attack as “vile”. Several other countries including Canada, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and UAE have also condemned the ghastly attack. The European Union (EU) expressed its dismay and condolences, asserting that terrorism can never be justified. “As a strategic partner of India, The EU reaffirms its full solidarity at such a difficult moment. The European Union stands by India in fighting terrorism and will continue to strengthen its cooperation in this regard,” stated the EU. The United Kingdom offered condolences following the attack. Its Foreign Secretary wrote, “Shocked by today’s senseless and brutal act of terror in India-administered Kashmir. I offer my sincere condolences to the victims’ families. We stand with India.” Australia, too, came forward to convey condolences. “Australia condemns the heinous terrorist attack on an Indian police convoy in Jammu and Kashmir. We convey our deepest condolences to the families of the victims, and all those injured. Our thoughts are with my friend Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian people,” said Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Bangladesh Prime Minister Shiekh Hasina condoled the death of the soldiers. “Excellency, on behalf of the people and the Government of Bangladesh, and on my own behalf, let me convey our heartfelt condolences for the loss of lives of more than 37 CRPF troops who were travelling by a bus in Pulwama District of Jammu and Kashmir this afternoon. Bangladesh strongly condemns this dastardly terrorist attack,” she wrote in her letter to Mr Modi. The Mauritius Ministry of Foreign also termed the attack “vile” and expressed sympathy to the Indian government and people following the attack. “Mauritius stands in staunch solidarity with the Government of India and remains committed to the fight against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,” a stetament said. Several Gulf countries including the UAE, KSA, Oman, Iran, and Bahrain came forward to condemn the dastardly attack. The countries also extended support to India in its fight against extremism and terrorism. Condemning the ghastly attack, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wrote to Mr Modi to express solidarity against terrorism. “I resolutely condemn the vicious terrorist attack carried out yesterday in Pulwama of Jammu and Kashmir. On behalf of the Japanese government and people, I would like to extend my sincere condolences to those who lost their lives and their bereaved families, and express my heartfelt sympathy to those who were injured. I express my heartfelt solidarity to the people of India in the process of overcoming this difficult time. Such act of terrorism cannot be justified for any reason. Japan is firmly committed to combatting terrorism in cooperation with India and the international community,” he wrote. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also extended support to India and tweeted, “To my dear friend, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, we stand with you, the security forces and the people of India following this heinous terrorist attack. We send our condolences to the families of the victims.” South Korea also came forward to convey condolences to the Indian government. In a press release, South Korea said: “It is the ROK Government’s firm position that terrorism is a crime against humanity that cannot be justified under any circumstances and must be eradicated.” Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli spoke to Mr Modi and expressed his condolences, concern, and condemnation over the attack. Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also expressed his condolences and condemned the attack. “Several countries including Romania, Czech Republic, Estonia, Andorra, The Netherlands, Tajikistan, Croatia, Greece, Seychelles, Mexico, Dominican Republic, South Africa, Finland, Belgium, Lebanon, Turkey, and Portugal condemned the attack and extended support and conveyed condolences. Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi wrote to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday to condemn the terror attack. He also expressed deep sympathy to families of the victims and injured. Pakistan, too, on Thursday termed as “a matter of grave concern” the terror attack on the CRPF convoy. In a statement, Pakistan Foreign Ministry said, “We have always condemned acts of violence anywhere in the world.” The convoy comprised of 78 buses in which around 2,500 personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar. The slain personnel were on a bus which had 42 CRPF men on board. Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based terrorist group, claimed responsibility for the attack which left the bus extensively damaged in the blast and ensuing gunfire on the vehicle.<doc-sep>India's prime minister warned Friday of a "crushing response" to the suicide bombing of a paramilitary convoy in Indian-controlled Kashmir, an attack that killed 41 and is now the deadliest in the divided region's volatile history. Prime Minister Narendra Modi placed the blame for Thursday's bombing squarely on neighbouring Pakistan, which India accuses of supporting rebels in Kashmir. "Our neighbouring country thinks such terror attacks can weaken us, but their plans will not materialize," he said, adding that government forces have been "given total freedom" to deal with the militants. The attack is ratcheting up tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours, who both administer parts of the disputed territory but each claim it entirely. Pakistan has denied any involvement and warned India against linking it to the attack, but that hasn't stopped India from taking action. India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced Friday that New Delhi was withdrawing the most favoured nation trade status given to Pakistan and would take all possible diplomatic steps "to ensure the complete isolation from international community of Pakistan of which incontrovertible evidence is available of having a direct hand in this gruesome terrorist incident." Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said the country condemns acts of violence anywhere in the world, and denied any involvement. "We strongly reject any insinuation by elements in the Indian media and government that seek to link the attack to Pakistan without investigations," it said in a statement. Rebels, many of whom want Kashmir united with Pakistan, have been fighting Indian control since 1989. But the Muslim-majority region has experienced renewed attacks and repeated public protests in recent years as a new generation of Kashmiri rebels, especially in the southern parts of the region, has challenged New Delhi's rule with a mixture of violence and social media. In Thursday's attack, a local Kashmiri militant rammed an explosive-laden van into a bus travelling in the paramilitary convoy. In addition to the dead, the attack wounded nearly two dozen other soldiers, India's paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force spokesperson Sanjay Sharma said. 'Pieces of mangled steel' Police said the bus was destroyed and at least five other vehicles were damaged. Videos circulated by local news groups showed ambulances rushing to the site and people running as smoke billowed from the damaged vehicles. Debris and body parts littered the road. The Greater Kashmir newspaper reported that militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility. A pre-recorded video circulated on social media sites showed the purported attacker in combat clothes and surrounded by guns and grenades. Mamta Rawar, centre, mourns her husband, who was among those killed in the attack. (Pawan Sharma/AFP/Getty Images) "The blast was so powerful that one cannot recognize whether the vehicle was a bus or a truck. Just pieces of mangled steel remain," Sharma said. Authorities suspended movement of security convoys in the Kashmir valley for a day on Friday and Home Minister Rajnath Singh arrived in Srinagar to review security situation. The attack has raised tensions elsewhere in Hindu-majority India. Hundreds of residents carrying India's national flag in Hindu-dominated Jammu city in the Muslim-majority state burned vehicles and hurled rocks at homes in Muslim neighbourhoods, officials said. Authorities clamped a curfew and appealed for a restraint. Some people were reported injured in the mob attacks. The U.S. also specifically singled out Pakistan in its statement condemning the attack. "The United States calls on Pakistan to end immediately the support and safe haven provided to all terrorist groups operating on its soil, whose only goal is to sow chaos, violence, and terror in the region," the statement from the White House press secretary's office said. It said the attack strengthened U.S. resolve to bolster counterterrorism co-operation with India. India and Pakistan have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947 and regularly exchange fire along their highly militarized border in Kashmir.<doc-sep>Pulwama attack: India will 'completely isolate' Pakistan Published 15 February 2019 media caption Indian Interior Minister Rajnath Singh meets injured troops India has said it will ensure the "complete isolation" of Pakistan after a suicide bomber killed 46 paramilitary police in Indian-administered Kashmir. It claims to have "incontrovertible evidence" of its neighbour's involvement but has not provided it. Pakistan denies any role in the attack by militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad, which is based on its soil. Thursday's bombing of the convoy was the deadliest attack on Indian forces in the region for decades. Federal Minister Arun Jaitley said India would take "all possible diplomatic steps" to cut Pakistan off from the international community. But a Pakistani minister has asked India to reveal their evidence, and offered to help them investigate the attack. There has been an insurgency in Indian-administered Kashmir since the late 1980s but violence has risen in recent years. image copyright Reuters image caption Protests were held in Jammu after Thursday's attack In the wake of the attack, authorities have imposed a curfew in parts of Hindu-majority Jammu city after an angry mob vandalised cars in a largely Muslim neighbourhood. Both India and Pakistan claim all of Muslim-majority Kashmir but only control parts of it. How will India 'punish' Pakistan? India says that Pakistan has long given safe haven to Jaish-e-Mohammad militants and accused it of having a "direct hand" in Thursday's attack. It has called for global sanctions against the group and for its leader, Masood Azhar, to be listed as a terrorist by the UN security council. India has tried to do this several times in the past but was repeatedly blocked by China, an ally of Pakistan. Mr Jaitley set out India's determination to hold Pakistan to account when speaking to reporters after attending a security meeting early on Friday. He also confirmed that India would revoke Most Favoured Nation status from Pakistan, a special trading privilege granted in 1996. Pakistan said it was gravely concerned by the bombing but firmly rejected allegations that it was responsible. The country's Information Minister, Fawad Chaudry, asked India to show its evidence, and offered to help the investigation into the attack. "This needs evidence," he told broadcaster CNN-News18. "This needs an investigation." India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a speech that those behind the attack would pay a "heavy price", leading many analysts to expect further action from Delhi. But they say that the government's military options appear limited due to heavy snow across the region. After a 2016 attack on an Indian army base that killed 19 soldiers, Delhi said it carried out a campaign of "surgical strikes" in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, across the de facto border. But a BBC investigation found little evidence militants had been hit. How did the attack unfold? The bomber used a vehicle packed with explosives to ram a convoy of 78 buses carrying Indian security forces on the heavily guarded Srinagar-Jammu highway about 20km (12 miles) from the capital, Srinagar. The bomber is reported to be Adil Dar, a high school dropout who left home in March 2018. He is believed to be between the ages of 19 and 21. media caption The blast took place on a heavily guarded highway Soon after the attack, Jaish-e-Mohammad released a video in which a young man identified as Dar spoke about what he described as atrocities against Kashmiri Muslims. He said he had joined the group in 2018 and was eventually "assigned" the task of carrying out the attack in Pulwama. He also said that by the time the video was released he would be in jannat (heaven). Dar is one of many young Kashmiri men who have been radicalised in recent years. On Thursday, main opposition leader Rahul Gandhi said that the number of Kashmiri men joining militancy had risen from 88 in 2016 to 191 in 2018. India has been accused of using brutal tactics to put down protests in Kashmir - with thousands of people sustaining eye injuries from pellet guns used by security forces. 'It feels like my son is always with me' by Arvind Chhabra, BBC News Punjabi image caption Kulwinder Singh was killed in the attack on Thursday "I'm proud of my son. He has sacrificed himself for his family," says Darshan Singh, whose son, Kulwinder, died in the suicide attack in Kashmir. Mr Singh, who lives in Rauli village in Punjab, last saw Kulwinder on 10 February, before he returned to Kashmir at the end of his vacation. His son was 26 and planned to marry in November: "We talked of only his wedding. We had finalised the caterers and the venue." "It feels like my son is always with me," Mr Singh says, pointing to the jacket he is wearing. It belonged to Kulwinder and has his name embroidered on it. Darshan Singh says his son was like a friend to him and he had been waiting to see him come home with his bride. "I didn't know we would instead be waiting for his body." What's the background? There have been at least 10 suicide attacks since 1989 but this is only the second to use a vehicle. Prior to Thursday's bombing, the deadliest attack on Indian security forces in Kashmir this century came in 2002, when militants killed at least 31 people at an army base in Kaluchak, near Jammu, most of them civilians and relatives of soldiers. media caption In December Yogita Limaye examined why there had been a rise in violence in Kashmir The latest attack comes amid a spike in violence in Kashmir that came about after Indian forces killed a popular militant, 22-year-old Burhan Wani, in 2016. More than 500 people were killed in 2018 - including civilians, security forces and militants - the highest such toll in a decade. India and Pakistan have fought three wars and a limited conflict since independence from Britain in 1947 - all but one were over Kashmir. What is Jaish-e-Mohammad? Started by cleric Masood Azhar in 2000, the group has been blamed for attacks on Indian soil in the past, including one in 2001 on the parliament in Delhi which took India and Pakistan to the brink of war. image copyright AFP/Getty image caption Maulan Masood Azhar founded JeM in 1999 Most recently, the group was blamed for attacking an Indian air force base in 2016 near the border in Punjab state. Seven Indian security personnel and six militants were killed. India, the UK, US and UN have all designated it a "terrorist" organisation and it has been banned in Pakistan since 2002. But Masood Azhar remains at large and is reportedly based in Bahawalpur in Pakistan's Punjab province. India has demanded his extradition but Islamabad has refused, citing a lack of proof. He was arrested in Srinagar in 1999 but India released him as a part of a hostage exchange after an airliner was hijacked. How have others reacted? Mr Gandhi and two former Indian chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir condemned the attack and expressed their condolences. The attack has also been widely condemned around the world, including by the US and the UN Secretary General.<doc-sep>
STR, AFP | Indian security forces inspect the remains of a bus following an attack on a paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on February 14, 2019. A suicide bomber rammed a car into a bus carrying Indian paramilitary police in Kashmir on Thursday, killing 44 of them in the deadliest attack in decades on security forces in the disputed region, raising tensions with arch foe Pakistan. Advertising Read more The Pakistan-based Islamist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the attack. The Indian government accused Pakistan of letting militant groups operate from its soil and called on it to take action. Islamabad said it rejected the suggestion it was linked to the attack. Kashmir is a Muslim-majority region at the heart of decades of hostility between India and Pakistan. FRANCE 24's Mandakini Gahlot discusses the attack The neighbours both rule parts of the region while claiming the entire territory as theirs. The explosion targeting a convoy of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was heard from several miles away, according to witnesses. Mohammad Yunis, a journalist who reached the site minutes later, told Reuters he saw blood and body parts scattered along a 100-metre stretch of the main highway running through the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. "We demand that Pakistan stop supporting terrorists and terror groups operating from their territory and dismantle the infrastructure operated by terrorist outfits to launch attacks in other countries," the Indian foreign ministry said in a statement, hours after the attack. Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the attack a matter of "grave concern". But in a brief statement early on Friday it added, "We strongly reject any insinuation by elements in the Indian government and media circles that seek to link the attack to the State of Pakistan without investigations." Islamabad has previously denied New Delhi's accusations that it gives material help to the militants fighting Indian rule in Muslim-majority Kashmir. It says it gives only moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people in their struggle for self-determination. Television images showed a mangled car amid rubble and snow around the site. Reuters photos showed tens of policemen surveying damaged vehicles and one policeman was seen carrying a plastic cover with guns inside. The death toll stood at 44, a senior police official said. The Central Reserve Force Police is a paramilitary organisation that is working with the Indian military to quell the 30-year insurgency in Kashmir. "I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet. Indian forces have sporadically battled Islamist militants in mountainous Kashmir since an armed revolt in 1989 in which tens of thousands were killed, but car bombings are rare. A video circulating on social media on Thursday purportedly featured the suicide bomber, and showed a young man holding a gun and threatening more attacks. Reuters was not able to independently verify the authenticity of the video. The Indian foreign ministry accused the Pakistani government of giving the militant group Jaish a free run in Pakistan, saying it has allowed the group's leader, Masood Azhar, "to operate and expand his terror infrastructure in territories under the control of Pakistan and to carry out attacks in India and elsewhere with impunity". The last major attack in Kashmir was in 2016 when militants raided an Indian army camp in Uri, killing 20 soldiers. Tension with Pakistan rose after that incident when New Delhi said the attackers had come from Pakistan to stage the assault. Pakistan denied any involvement. Modi under pressure The attack could put Modi, who faces a general election due by May, under political pressure to act against the militants and Pakistan. Randeep Singh Surjewala, a spokesman for the main opposition Congress party, accused Modi of compromising on security. "Zero political action & Zero policy to tackle terror has led to an alarming security situation," Surjewala said in one of a series of tweets. Kanwal Sibal, a former top diplomat, said a diplomatic response from India would not be enough. "They will have to do something otherwise I think it will be very difficult for government to absorb this blow and be seen to be doing nothing," Sibal told Reuters. The Jaish-e-Mohammad group is one of the most powerful militant groups operating in Kashmir. It was blamed for a 2001 attack on the Indian parliament that led to India deploying its military on the border with Pakistan.