Several Indian soldiers die in suicide bombing in Kashmir

A vehicle filled with explosives rammed into a convoy of Indian paramilitary forces on a busy highway in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir on Thursday, killing at least 40 soldiers, local officials said, in the worst attack in the disputed region in three decades.

As the death toll continued to climb Thursday evening, officials said the suicide attack, which targeted a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying some 2,500 personnel, ripped apart two buses. It happened at about 3:15 p.m. local time.

“I have never heard such a blast in my entire life,” said Qaisar Mir, a resident of Gundipoora, the village in southern Kashmir where the attack took place. “We saw smoke billowing up and then heard cries for help.”

Responsibility for the attack was claimed by Jaish-e-Muhammad, or the Army of Muhammad, a militant group that is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States Treasury Department. Although the group is formally banned in Pakistan, it operates and raises funds in the country under different names, Indian and American officials have said in the past.

Via NYT