Indian Army soldiers examine debris after explosion in Kashmir's Pulwama district | Photo from REUTERS

Militants from the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist organisation targetted a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Pulwama on Thursday (February 14) with an SUV stuffed with explosives.

The blast blew up one of the buses that was carrying about 40 jawans and killed at least 44 of them.

The attack took place on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Pulwama's Awantipora area.

According to the police, the blast was carried out by suicide bomber Adil Ahmad Dar alias Waqas Commando.

JeM terrorist Adil Ahmad Dar who carried out terror attack on a CRPF convoy | Photo from: Twitter

MODUS OPERANDI

Sources in security forces told India Today TV that the vehicle used by the terrorists was an SUV stuffed with 200 kg of explosives.

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) sources said the car bomb was triggered while the convoy of 70 CRPF vehicles was plying through Srinagar-Jammu highway in Goripora area.

The CRPF bus under target was carrying 39 personnel on board. The bus bore the brunt of the explosion and the shrapnel wreaked havoc.

The stretch on which the incident occurred was largely believed to be sanitised of terror activities.

Crane drags partially damaged CRPF vehicle after explosion in Kashmir's Pulwama | Photo from AP

CRPF DG RR Bhatnagar said, "This is a new modus operandi, we have to study how this attack was carried out and whether all sops were followed in the case."

Security failure is also being looked at by the administration.

An internal intelligence note also points: "Before occupying your place of deployment, please sanitise the area, as there are inputs of use of IEDs."

Sources in Jammu & Kashmir Police said, "The trend is alarming. We have seen this in 1996 and 1998 when such modus operandi was seen, but the amount of explosive was not so high."

THE SUICIDE BOMBER AND JEM

A resident of Kakapora, Adil Ahmad Darhad joined the terror outfit Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind in February this year. But, he soon left the terror group to join JeM.

Soon after the attack, JeM also released a recorded video message of the suicide bomber.

In the 44-second video, the suicide bomber is seen sitting in front of a bunch of AK 47 magazines and holding an AK 47 rifle, reciting Islamic poetry and exhorting the people to stand up, asking them to join Jaish-e-Mohammed.