Two Odisha jawans martyred in Pulwama terror attack

Bhubaneswar: Odisha has a long list of martyrs who made supreme sacrifice of their life for the service of the nation while safeguarding the borders of India. The State lost two sons on Thursday too in the worst-ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir that killed at least 43 troopers and left many others critically injured.

The deceased jawans were identified as Ct/GD Parshana Kumar Sahu of 61 Battalions of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Manoj Behera, posted as the constable in the CRPF.

While martyred Odia jawan Sahu was a resident of Shikhar village under Nuagaon police limits of Jagatsinghpur district, Behera belonged to Niali area in Cuttack district in the State.

The little-known Shikhar village was immersed in grief after the residents heard about the martyrdom of Sahu. His mother and wife were inconsolable hearing the sad news in the evening.

Grief spread across the State after Behera’s family received death of Behera, a young soldier survived by parents, wife and a one-year-old daughter.

On Thursday evening, a suicide bomber  rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 43 troopers and leaving the security established stunned.

The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the horror and released a video clip of the suicide bomber, a ‘commander’ identified as Adil Ahmad Dar, which it claimed was shot before the young man carried out the strike in Lethpora, about 30 km from Srinagar.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation in condemning the horror.