Solved case · 2019
The short answer
On 14 February 2019, a vehicle-borne suicide bomber struck a CRPF convoy on the Jammu–Srinagar highway at Lethapora, Pulwama district, killing 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel. Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility; the attack sharply escalated India–Pakistan tensions and led to the 2019 India–Pakistan military standoff.
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Suggest coverage for 2019 Pulwama attackOn 14 February 2019, a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying more than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel was travelling from Jammu to Srinagar on National Highway 44. Around 15:15 IST, near Lethapora in the Pulwama district of the then state of Jammu and Kashmir, a car loaded with explosives rammed a bus in the convoy. The resulting blast killed 40 CRPF personnel of the 76th Battalion and injured others, who were taken to the army base hospital in Srinagar. It was described as the deadliest attack on India's state security personnel in Kashmir since 1989.
The Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility and released a video of the man identified as the bomber, Adil Ahmad Dar, a 22-year-old from Kakapora in Pulwama district who had joined the group roughly a year earlier. According to his parents, Dar had been arrested by Indian authorities several times between 2016 and 2018 without charge and was radicalized after being beaten by police. Pakistan denied any connection to the attack, though Jaish-e-Mohammed's leader, Masood Azhar, is known to operate from Pakistani territory.
The Indian government had reportedly received multiple intelligence inputs in the days before the attack, and the convoy travelled by road rather than air after a request for CRPF aircraft was not granted. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) led the investigation, working with Jammu and Kashmir Police. Investigators said the vehicle used in the attack carried more than 300 kilograms of explosives, including RDX and ammonium nitrate; DNA analysis of car fragments matched Dar's father, confirming his identity as the bomber. An NIA charge-sheet filed in August 2020 named 19 accused; by August 2021, the main accused and six others had reportedly been killed and seven arrested.
The attack triggered a rapid deterioration in India–Pakistan relations. India revoked Pakistan's most-favoured-nation trade status and raised customs duties on Pakistani goods, and pushed for Pakistan's blacklisting by the Financial Action Task Force, which instead kept Pakistan on its "grey list." Domestically, the attack prompted protests, a curfew in Jammu, and reports of harassment and eviction of Kashmiri students in other parts of India. Internationally, the United States, United Nations, and numerous countries condemned the attack, while China blocked a UN Security Council move to designate Masood Azhar a global terrorist.
The crisis escalated further on 26 February 2019, when Indian Mirage 2000 jets struck a site in Balakot, Pakistan, which India described as a Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp. This was followed by an aerial engagement in which an Indian MiG-21 was shot down over Pakistan and its pilot captured; the pilot was released on 1 March 2019. Pakistan subsequently arrested dozens of individuals linked to militant groups, including relatives of Masood Azhar.
A vehicle-borne suicide bomber attacks a CRPF convoy at Lethapora, Pulwama district, killing 40 CRPF personnel.
Jammu and Kashmir state administration revokes security provisions for separatist leaders.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan asks India for proof of Pakistani involvement in the attack.
Pakistani prisoner Shakarullah is killed by fellow inmates in Jaipur Central Jail, India; accounts of the motive differ between India and Pakistan.
Indian Air Force jets conduct an airstrike on Balakot, Pakistan, which India says targeted a Jaish-e-Mohammed camp.
Pakistan releases the captured Indian pilot following an aerial engagement.
Pakistan arrests 44 people linked to militant groups, including relatives of Jaish-e-Mohammed leader Masood Azhar.
NIA files a charge-sheet naming 19 accused in the Pulwama attack investigation.
By this point, the main accused and six others had reportedly been killed and seven arrested.
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
Identified by Indian investigators as the suicide bomber who carried out the attack; killed in the explosion. Named in the NIA investigation as a perpetrator.[3]
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UNSOLVEDListenLiddarwat, Pahalgam, Anantnag district, Jammu and Kashmir, India · 1980s
Six Western trekkers and two guides were abducted in Kashmir in July 1995 by militants using the name Al-Faran to demand the release of jailed militant leaders; one hostage escaped, one was beheaded, and four others were never found and are presumed dead.
SOLVEDListenKishtwar district (formerly Doda district), Jammu and Kashmir, India · 2000s
Between May and August 2001, a series of massacres targeting Pahari-Hindu shepherds and villagers in the Doda district (present-day Kishtwar district) of Jammu and Kashmir, India, left 43 people dead, attributed to Lashkar-e-Toiba militants.
UNSOLVEDListenMirpur, Azad Kashmir (Pakistan-administered Kashmir) · 1940s
In late November 1947, following the fall of Mirpur town to Pashtun tribal raiders and "Azad Kashmir forces" during the Jammu and Kashmir conflict, large numbers of non-Muslim (Hindu and Sikh) residents were killed, and women were reportedly raped and abducted, with unverifiable estimates citing 20,000 killed and 2,500 abducted.
Credit: Pax Ahimsa GethenCC BY-SA 4.0SourceSOLVEDListenPulse nightclub, Orlando, Florida, United States · 2016
On June 12, 2016, Omar Mateen, identified by police as the gunman, shot and killed 49 people and wounded 58 others at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, during a Latin Night event, before being fatally shot by police after a three-hour standoff.
Credit: uploader and the RNAOCC BY-SA 3.0SourceSOLVEDListenYonge Street, North York City Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada · 2018
On April 23, 2018, a man drove a rented van into pedestrians along Yonge Street in Toronto's North York City Centre, killing 11 people and injuring 15 others before being arrested; he was later convicted on all counts and sentenced to life in prison.
Birstall, West Yorkshire, England · 2016
On 16 June 2016, British Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death in Birstall, West Yorkshire, by Thomas Alexander Mair. He was convicted in November 2016 of murder and related offences, with the judge finding the killing was an act of terrorism motivated by white supremacist and neo-Nazi ideology. Mair received a whole life order.
