Pulwama IED attack LIVE: India withdraws MFN status to Pakistan

At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday when a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the bus they were travelling in, one of the worst terror strikes in the state in recent years, officials said. More than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley, were travelling in the convoy of 78 vehicles when they were ambushed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway at Latoomode in Awantipora.

Police said the terrorist driving the suicide vehicle was Adil Ahmad from Kakapora in Pulwama who joined the JeM in 2018. The casualties are likely to go up.

The terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack that took place about 30 km from Srinagar, they said. Over 20 people were injured in the terror attack, which reduced the bus to a mangled heap of iron. Several other buses were damaged in the attack.

Body parts could be seen strewn around the area. "It was a large convoy and about 2,500 personnel were travelling in multiple vehicles. Some shots were also fired at the convoy," CRPF DG R R Bhatnagar told PTI.

The US on Thursday condemned the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district and said it stands alongside India in defeating terrorism.

Today India withdrew the 'Most-Favoured Nation' status accorded to Pakistan following the deadly Pulwama terror attack and said it will take all steps to isolate the neighbouring country globally. In a media briefing after the meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security(CCS), Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that all efforts will be made to ensure that perpetrators of the attack are brought to book.

"The most favoured nation status to Pakistan stands revoked," he said after the CCS meeting at the Prime Minister's residence. India granted MFN status to Pakistan in 1996