Pulwama attacks
Indian security forces inspect the remains of a vehicle following an attack on a paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy that killed at least 16 troopers and injured several others near Awantipur town in the Lethpora area of Kashmir about 30km south of Srinagar on February 14, 2019.STR/AFP/Getty Images

Pakistan has said the terrorist attack in Kashmir's Pulwama district is "a matter of grave concern" even as it strongly rejected Indian media and government's allegations of the country's link to the strike "without" probe. In one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir's three decades of militancy, a suicide bomber from the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus in Pulwama district on Thursday, killing at least 39 personnel and leaving many critically wounded.

Attack in Pulwama in Kashmir is "a matter of grave concern", the Pakistan government said in a statement. Asserting that Pakistan has "always condemned acts of violence" anywhere in the world, it said, "We strongly reject any insinuation by elements in the Indian media and government that seek to link the attack to Pakistan without investigations."

Meanwhile, India slammed Pakistan over the Pulwama terror attack carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammed and asked the neighbouring country to stop supporting terrorists and dismantle terror infrastructure operating from its soil.

Pulwama attack
The site on on the Srinagar-Jammu highway where 20 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were killed and 15 others injured in an audacious suicide attack by militants in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Feb 14, 2019.IANS

India also strongly reiterated its appeal to all members of the international community to support the proposal to list terrorists, including JeM chief Masood Azhar, as a designated terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council, and to ban terrorist organisations operating from territories controlled by Pakistan.

The Indian government condemns in the strongest possible terms the cowardly terrorist attack on India's brave security forces in Pulwama, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

This heinous and despicable act has been perpetrated by Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based terrorist organisation proscribed by the United Nations and other countries, it said. This terror group is led by the international terrorist Masood Azhar, who has been given full freedom by the Pakistani government to operate and expand his terror infrastructure in territories under Pakistan's control and to carry out attacks in India and elsewhere with impunity, the MEA said