*Set seized in Kathua matched with Nagrota attackers
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 5: As investigations progressed in sensational Nagrota attack on November 29 in which seven Army soldiers including two Majors were martyred, police have established Pakistan link of three slain terrorists and were now looking for their handlers and a vehicle reportedly used in transporting them to the site of terror attack.
“What has led the investigators to believe on Pakistan theory instead of Kashmir or Rajouri and Poonch is recovery of Pakistan made medicines and biscuit packets from the possession of slain militants apart from a RS Pura made water bottle. In addition, police have recovered a wireless set from under a culvert in Kathua, whose frequency has matched with the wireless sets that were in possession of three militants, who has attacked an Army camp in Nagrota,” official sources told the Excelsior.
However, there was no Kashmir made item in possession of the terrorists and travelling such a long distance from the Valley or twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch to reach Nagrota also seems a distinct possibility, though not completely ruled out.
“Ninety nine percent, we are working on the theory of militants having came from Pakistan after infiltration from the border and had been helped by the handlers in arranging transport and other facilities for the militants to help them reach close to Nagrota, where they entered the camp, reportedly using premises from the forest area in its rear,” sources said, adding that possible routes taken by the militants to reach Nagrota are being looked but the recoveries with them had given enough indications of the militants having come from Pakistan. Their nationality was also believed to be Pakistani.
Sources said the militants had either lost one of the wireless sets at Kathua or it might have been left in the vehicle used by the handler to transport them to Nagrota and the handler could have thrown it under a culvert later.
“But matching of frequency of wireless set recovered at Kathua, a day after Nagrota attack, with the wireless sets in possession of the slain militants was enough indication that the militants had taken Jammu-Pathankot National Highway route to reach Nagrota after their infiltration from Jammu or Punjab borders,” they added.
All three wireless sets including two recovered from the militants and one at Kathua were being de-coded to get some data.
Sources said that the militants could have infiltrated even a day ahead of the attack and taken shelter along dense forests before carrying out the attack in wee hours of November 29 at the Army camp. They added that the militants used the forest area located behind the Army camp to gain entry. The area has barbed wire and a small wall.
Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag today said in New Delhi on the sidelines of a function that the Nagrota terror attack was under investigation and a final report will clarify everything.
“The Army has initiated an enquiry into the deadly Nagrota attack that will also look into how the terrorists entered the Army’s camp from the forest area on its rear side,” he added.
Army was carrying out its own investigations in the terror attack pertaining to lapses, if any, that led to the terror attack and martyrdom of seven Army soldiers including two Majors, which has been described as `big number’.
Asserting that investigations in Nagrota terror attack were very complex as all three terrorists were killed in the operation, sources said it had become easy to identify route taken by the militants, support of Over Ground Workers etc in Samroli terror attack at Jammu-Srinagar National Highway on August 5, 2015 as one of the two militants, Naved, a Pakistani, had been captured alive by the local people. The captured Pakistani had spilled the beans.
However, in Nagrota terror attack, police was examining CCTV footages on Jammu-Pathankot Highway, Jammu-Nagrota road, Srinagar-Nagrota road and mobile telephones used in these areas during the night to reach to the handler(s) of the militants and the vehicle used in transporting the militants as investigators believed that the militants wouldn’t have reach Nagrota on foot even during darkness as the Highway remained active even during the night and some vehicles could have spotted them.
Meanwhile, sources said, finally investigations of the case would go to National Investigating Agency (NIA) of both Nagrota and Samba terror attacks, which took place the same day on November 29.
At Ramgarh, Samba, the BSF had gunned down three Pakistani infiltrators soon after they entered into the Indian territory from a tunnel while three other terrorists had entered Army camp at Nagrota in which seven soldiers were martyred before all three militants were eliminated by the troops.
Follow our WhatsApp channel