#PulwamaTerrorAttack: PM Modi pays tributes to martyred CRPF personnel
The mortal remains of 40 CRPF personnel who lost their lives in a deadly terror attack in Jammu & Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday have been flown to Delhi. Their bodies have been taken to Delhi's Palam airport from J&K where the wreath-laying ceremony is underway. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has paid tributes to the martyred CRPF soldiers at the airport. Here's more.
Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi lays wreath on the mortal remains of the CRPF jawans. #PulwamaTerrorAttack pic.twitter.com/59BBNzTmBI
— ANI (@ANI) February 15, 2019
#WATCH live from Delhi: Wreath laying ceremony of the CRPF jawans at Palam Airport. #PulwamaAttack https://t.co/WF8fVaDjX6
— ANI (@ANI) February 15, 2019
Union Home Affairs Minister Rajnath Singh, Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal among others also paid tributes to the CRPF jawans. Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba, and Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa also laid wreaths on the soldiers' mortal remains.
A convoy of CRPF which had 70 buses was attacked on the Jammu-Srinagar highway on February 14. A Mahindra Scorpio, laced with nearly 350kg of explosives, rammed into a bus. In the dastardly attack, 40 jawans lost their lives and nearly 50 were seriously injured. Terrorist organization Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for worst terror attack since the 2016 Uri attack.
A National Investigation Agency (NIA) team along with explosive specialists and forensic experts has collected the required material from the blast site for forensic evaluation of the scene of the crime. "Considering the status, team would continue with sifting of material tomorrow too. Outcome would be made known after analysis is over," NIA was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Following the Pulwama terror attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) meeting on Friday morning. The high-level meeting was attended by NSA Ajit Doval and Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, Sushma Swaraj, and Arun Jaitley. In a tweet, PM Modi assured that the sacrifices of the soldiers "won't go in vain".
The External Affairs Ministry on Friday said Pakistan gave "full freedom" to Masood Azhar, JeM's chief, which helped him carry out such terror attacks. It urged the international community to designate Azhar as a designated terrorist, an attempt China thwarted at least twice previously.
