18 CRPF personnel killed as blast rips through bus in J-K

Srinagar: Eighteen CRPF personnel were killed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Thursday when a blast ripped through the bus they were travelling in, officials said.

The Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed responsibility for the incident, they said. The casualties are likely to go up.

Several people were injured in the IED blast, which reduced the bus to a mangled heap of iron.

The vehicle was blown up on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Awantipora area of the district, a police official said.

Further details of the incident are awaited, he added.