44 days after Pulwama attack, car blast scare near CRPF convoy

Banihal/ Jammu: A CRPF vehicle was slightly damaged Saturday when a private car went up in flames after an explosion, apparently caused by a gas cylinder, on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway, police said. There were no casualties in the incident that occurred near the Jawahar Tunnel — the gateway to the Kashmir valley — in Jammu and Kashmir's Ramban district around 10.30 am.

"It has not been established whether it was a (terror) attack or not. It has also not been established why the vehicle caught fire," Governor Satya Pal Malik told reporters in Jammu. "No explosive of sorts, but nothing can be said (at the moment)."

The incident triggered memories of the February 14 vehicle-borne suicide attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Pulwama that claimed the lives of 44 personnel. According to a preliminary investigation, the blast near Tethar village, 7 km from Banihal town in Jammu region, occurred after one of the two gas cylinders in the Hyundai Santro model caught fire.

Banihal sub-divisional police officer Sajad Sarwar said the vehicle, which was on the way to Jammu from Srinagar, was completely gutted in the fire. A CRPF vehicle, which was passing through the highway at the time of the incident, suffered slight damage in the rear side, but all the personnel on board escaped unhurt, Sarwar said.