NIA starts investigation into Uri fidayeen attack

A day after 18 soldiers were killed in one of the deadliest terror attacks on a strategic army location near the LoC in Kashmir, a National Investigation Agency (NIA) team on Monday visited the spot to initiate a probe.

Sources told DH that a six-member NIA team led by a inspector general (IG) level officer reached Uri in Baramulla, 102 km from here, after getting clearance from the Union Home Ministry to take over the investigation into the terror attack.

“On their arrival in Uri, the NIA team had a brief discussion with senior Army officers in the area. The team will look into all aspects of how the four heavily armed terrorists managed to sneak into a heavily guarded military installation,” they said and added that NIA sleuths are likely to talk to some of the injured soldiers.

Station House Officer (SHO) of Uri police station Ghulam Mohammad confirmed that the NIA team has arrived in the town. “I don’t have details, but I can say they are here,” he told DH over phone. The central probe agency was roped in as this is the deadliest terror attack in recent history in which 18 soldiers were killed and 19 others injured.

Four fidayeen (suicide) militants, who carried out the pre-dawn attack, were also killed in the retaliatory action by the troops.However, identities of the slain militants have not been made public yet, though the Army maintains they were Pakistanis affiliated with Jaish-e-Mohammad terror outfit.

Meanwhile, the Army also instituted a court of inquiry (CoI) into the attack as preliminary investigations have suggested the fidayeen might have entered the area at least a day before mounting the brazen assault.

Sources said the CoI, to be completed in a time-bound manner, will suggest measures to prevent such attacks in future. A senior police officer told DH that while the CoI is a sort of a departmental inquiry to fix responsibility for the infiltration of the highly guarded military installation, the NIA will do the criminal investigation of the attack.

“The NIA’s job is to gather evidence and prepare a dossier which could be presented to the international community to expose Pakistani hand in the attack,” he added.