Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik announces Rs 10 lakh ex-gratia to kin of 2 CRPF jawans killed in Pulwama attack

Bhubaneswar: Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh for the kin of the two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans from the state who were killed in the Pulwama terror attack.

The chief minister also urged all the educational institutions in the state to observe two minutes silence on Saturday at 11 am.

The two soldiers from the state who were killed in the terror attack were identified as Manoj Kumar Behra and PK Sahoo.

Around 40 CRPF personnel were killed after a suicide bomber rammed a car laden with explosives into a bus carrying them on Thursday. The bus was extensively damaged in the blast. The convoy comprised 78 buses in which around 2,500 personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar.

Soon after the attack, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), which is based in Pakistan and backed by Islamabad, claimed the responsibility for the attack, saying the attack was carried out by its suicide bomber.