Pulwama carnage latest among long list of terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir: A timeline of incidents

Thursday’s carnage in Pulwama that killed 40 CRPF jawans is unprecedented but not something that will perhaps unceasingly jolt Jammu and Kashmir. By now, the state has been witness to thousands of shocking terror attacks – both by radicalised homegrown insurgency and foreign groups purportedly supported by Pakistan. Banned terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsibility and identified suicide bomber Adil Ahmad Dar as the one who carried out the lethal attack, one of the many that the JeM had conducted over the several years. In December, 2018, data revealed by the Ministry of Home Affairs had noted that 87 members of security personnel, including 44 state police officers, 32 army jawans, seven CRPF and one CISF, BSF and SSB personnel were killed in the state that year. The government had earlier also said that about 184 incidents of terror were reported from Jammu and Kashmir till the end of July 2017, with 155 recorded attacks in 2018. [caption id=“attachment_6092361” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  An army soldier stood guard near the site of suicide bomb attack at Pulwama. PTI[/caption] While saying that violence in the state is “sponsored” and “supported” from across the border, Union minister of state for home Hansraj Ahir had also informed the Rajya Sabha in December, 2018 that there have been 759 incidents of stone pelting that year, mostly during “anti-militancy operations”. The statement had come months after former state police chief S P Vaid said, in July, 2018, that there was a 90 percent dip in incidents of stone pelting in Kashmir Valley that year compared to 2017 and had credited the residents for “improvement of situation”. Dar, the 20-year-old, who perpetrated the attack on the CRPF personnel was one among thousands of Kashmiris engaged in protests that had rocked the Valley following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen ‘commander’ Burhan Wani, reported The Indian Express. His family members were also quoted saying that Dar was shot in the led during the protests. The Pulwama attack on Thursday came months after a CRPF camp in Kakpura area of the district was attacked and two soldiers injured in October, 2018. They say that a “human bomb” was used for the first time in Kashmir insurgency on 19 April, 2000. Since then, as before that, a spate of violent incidents have erupted across the state. Here is a timeline of some of the attacks, surprisingly many of them in Pulwama alone and on CRPF men, that have taken pace since 2000: 10 February, 2018: Suspected JeM terrorists attacked the Sunjwan army camp in Jammu and Kashmir early on Saturday morning, in which two jawans, including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO), were killed and four others were injured. 31 December, 2017: Five CRPF jawans were killed and three others injured in a 24-hour-long encounter between BSF and JeM militants in again in Pulwama’s Lethpora area. 26 August, 2017: Three JeM terrorists stormed the District Police Lines in Pulwama, killing eight security force personnel, before the assailants were shot dead. 29 November, 2016: A group of militants had attacked an army base camp at Nagrota in Jammu, killing seven soldiers. The Indian security forces had killed as many as three terrorists. 18 September, 2016 Uri attack: In what was another big attack on security forces, recently glamourised in a Bollywood movie, militants had attacked a battalion headquarters at Uri in Baramulla district, killing 18 soldiers, most of them in their sleep. The attack on the base, close to the Line of Control with Pakistan, was one of the deadliest in Kashmir in two decades. 25 June, 2016: Terrorists opened indiscriminate fire at a CRPF bus, which was part of a convoy, killing eight soldiers at Pampore on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway. 20 March, 2015: A fidayeen squad of militants attacked a police station in Kathua killing seven people. 5 December 2014: Six heavily-armed terrorists storm an army camp at Mohra in Uri, killing 10 soldiers. Six militants were also killed in the operation. 27 November, 2014: Ten people, including four civilians, three army soldiers and three militants were killed in an encounter in Arnia, Jammu. 26 September, 2013: In twin suicide attacks, more than 13 people were killed in Kathua and Samba districts. 24 June, 2013: Terrorists ambush a bus carrying unarmed army personnel at Hyderpora in Srinagar. Eight soldiers were killed in the attack. 19 July, 2008: Ten soldiers were killed when terrorists triggered an IED planted by the roadside at Narbal on Srinagar-Baramulla highway on the outskirts of the city. 2 November, 2005: A suicide bomber blew up his car at Nowgam, near the private residence of then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, killing three cops and six civilians. 20 July, 2005: Another suicide car bomber blew his vehicle by ramming it into a vehicle of security forces. Three personnel and two civilians were killed. 24 June, 2005: Nine army soldiers were killed in a car bomb triggered by terrorists on the outskirts of Srinagar.  4 August, 2004:  Nine CRPF jawans were killed in a terrorist attack on their camp at Rajbagh in Srinagar. 8 April, 2004: Eleven people were killed in a grenade attack by terrorists on a PDP rally at Uri . The PDP was demanding the opening of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad Road. 22 July, 2003: Eight soldiers, including a brigadier, were killed in a terrorists attack on their camp at Akhnoor. 14 May, 2002: In one of the biggest strikes on an army installation, 36 persons were killed by three terrorists who stormed the Kaluchak Army Cantonment in Jammu. Most of the killed were family members. 17 November, 2001: Terrorists storm a security forces base in Ramban (then part of Doda district), killing 10 security forces. Four terrorists were also killed. 1 October, 2001: Terrorists trigger a car bomb outside the old Legislative Assembly Complex in Srinagar, killing as many as 38 people. 10 August, 2000: Terrorists hurl a grenade at Residency Road in Srinagar. As the security officials assembled at the spot, they triggered a car bomb, killing 11 persons and a photojournalist. 19 April, 2000: When the “human bomb” is officially said to have been used for the first time in Kashmir insurgency. Two soldiers were killed in the suicide car bomb at the Army headquarters at Badamibagh area in Srinagar. With inputs from PTI