SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday visited restive Indian-controlled Kashmir to pay tributes to the paramilitary troopers killed in a suicide bomber attack, officials said.
Singh, along with home ministry officials, reached Srinagar on Friday afternoon and went to a paramilitary camp in Budgam to lay floral wreaths at the coffins of paramilitary troopers, besides paying tributes to them.
"The home minister attended a solemn function where the remains of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were kept in coffins, draped with tricolour," an official said.
On Thursday at least 40 paramilitary troopers belonging to CRPF were killed and many others wounded after a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into their convoy on national highway near Lethpora village in Pulwama district, about 27 km south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.
Though officials haven't issued any statement on casualties, local media put the death toll much beyond 40.
The Jaish-e-Mohammad group had subsequently claimed responsibility for the deadly attack.
Militant groups opposing New Delhi's rule are engaged in a guerilla war with Indian troops in the region since 1989. Gunfight between the two sides takes place intermittently.
Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan, is claimed by both in full. Since their independence from Britain, the two countries have fought three wars, two exclusively over Kashmir.
