India vows ‘sacrifice not in vain’ after car bomb kills 44 troops, obliterating their bus in disputed Kashmir
- Pakistan-based militants have claimed responsibility for the deadliest attack in Kashmir since an insurgency began three decades ago
- Kashmir is a Muslim-majority region at the heart of decades of hostility between India and Pakistan
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. 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, 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.