PM Modi, CRPF jawans pay tribute to lives lost in Pulwama attack

India will never forget the martyrdom of the security personnel killed in last year's Pulwama attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday.

He termed the slain security personnel were "exceptional individuals" who devoted their lives to serving and protecting the nation.

On February 14 last year, a convoy of vehicles carrying security personnel on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was attacked by a vehicle-borne suicide bomber at Lethpora in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir. Forty Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed in the attack.

Umesh Gopinath Jadhav, from Maharashtra, is the special guest at the wreath-laying ceremony at CRPF campus in Kashmir's Lethpora to mark a year of Pulwama Attack today. He took a 61000 km long journey across India to meet families of the 40 jawans who lost their lives in attack.

"I'm proud that I met all the families of Pulwama martyrs, and sought their blessings. Parents lost their son, wives lost their husbands, children lost their fathers, friends lost their friends. I collected soil from their houses & their cremation grounds," said Umesh Gopinath Jadhav.

"Tributes to the brave martyrs who lost their lives in the gruesome Pulwama Attack last year. They were exceptional individuals who devoted their lives to serving and protecting our nation. India will never forget their martyrdom," tweets PM Modi one year since the Pulwama attack.

"I pay homage to the martyrs of Pulwama Attack. India will forever be grateful of our bravehearts and their families who made supreme sacrifice for the sovereignty and integrity of our motherland," tweets Union Home Minister Amit Shah.