PULWAMA

BACKGROUND
• Kashmir is a disputed territory, claimed both by India and Pakistan
with both countries administering part of the territory.[6] Pakistan
has sought to gain control of Indian-administered Kashmir.[7][8] An
insurgency began to proliferate in Indian-administered Kashmir in
the late 1980s. One of the causes of the insurgency was India's
rigging of the 1987 elections,[9][10]and Pakistan provided the
insurgency with material support.[9][10] Since 1989, about 70,000
people have been killed in the uprising and the Indian
crackdown.[6][11] According to Time, unrest in Kashmir grew in 2016
after India killed a popular militant leader, Burhan Wani.[6] A rising
number of young locals from Indian administered Kashmir have
joined the militancy.[12][13] Many sources state that the majority of
militants in Kashmir are now local, not foreign.[14][15][16] In 2018
alone, the death toll included 260 militants, 160 civilians and 150
government forces.[11]
 ATTACK
• On 14 February 2019, a convoy of 78 vehicles transporting more than
2,500 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)[a] personnel from Jammu to Srinagar was
travelling on National Highway 44. The convoy had left Jammu around
03:30 IST and was carrying a large number of personnel due to the highway having
been shut down for two days prior. The convoy was scheduled to reach its
destination before sunset.[3]
• At Lethpora near Awantipora, around 15:15 IST,[23] a bus carrying security
personnel was rammed by a car carrying explosives. It caused a blast which killed
40 CRPF personnel of the 76th Battalion and injured many others.[1] The injured
were moved to the army base hospital in Srinagar.[2]
• Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for the
attack. They also released a video of the assailant Adil Ahmad Dar, a 22-year old
from Kakapora who had joined the group a year earlier.[3][24][25] Dar's family had
last seen him in March 2018, when he left his house on a bicycle one day and
never returned.[26] Pakistan denied any involvement, though Jaish-e-Mohammed's
leader, Masood Azhar, is known to operate in the country.[27][28]
• It is the deadliest terror attack on India's state security personnel in Kashmir since
1989.[23]
 INVESTIGATION
• The National Investigation Agency dispatched a 12-
member team to probe the attack, working with
the Jammu and Kashmir Police.[2][3]
• Initial investigations suggested the car was carrying
more than 300 kilograms (660 lb) of
explosives,[3] including 80 kilograms (180 lb) of RDX,
a high explosive,[33] and ammonium nitrate.[34] Lt Gen
Hooda said that the explosives might have been stolen
from a construction site. He initially said that it was not
possible that they were smuggled from across the
border, but later said that he could not rule it out.[3