At least 18 CRPF personnel were killed in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday when a Jaish-e-Mohammed militant rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a bus they were travelling in, officials said.

The terror group has claimed responsibility for the incident, they said.

Police identified the militant as Adil Ahmad from Kakapora in Pulwama. He joined the Jaish-e-Mohammed in 2018, they said

The casualties are likely to go up.

Several people were injured in the IED blast, which reduced the bus to a mangled heap of iron.Body parts were strewn around the area.

The bus was blown up on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Awantipora area of the district, a police official said.