NIA suspects insider role in terror attack

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), probing Sunday’s attack on an army installation in Uri, suspects the hand of an ‘insider’ in facilitating the entry of the militants into the brigade headquarters.

The NIA team, led by IGP Mukesh Singh, is camping in Uri, Baramulla, 102 km from here, for the past two days to probe the deadly fidayeen (suicide) attack, in which 18 army personnel were killed and 19 injured.

“During preliminary investigations, NIA sleuths have observed that the four fidayeen had sneaked into the highly fortified garrison along the Line of Control with possible support from the inside and proceeded straight to the barracks where the troops of the incoming 6-Bihar regiment and the outgoing 10-Dogra had been lodged,” a source told DH.

They said the commander of the 12-Brigade briefed the team about the timings and the replacement of the incoming and outgoing battalions. “The timing is said to be the most crucial at an army camp as during the transit procedure fidayeen strike becomes easy,” the source added. A senior police official privy to the probe said NIA sleuths have noticed that the fidayeen had silently set on fire the arms and ammunition store and a large quantity of kerosene oil, which led to multiple casualties. “The NIA team has observed that without a thorough recce and inside guidance, it was not possible for the fidayeen to carry out the attack with such accuracy,” he said.

The official revealed that NIA has asked the Jammu and Kashmir Police to give mobile traffic data of Saturday and Sunday to help them identify whether the fidayeen were in touch with anybody in the area.

This is the first investigation to be carried out by NIA in Kashmir of a militant attack.  Earlier, they had investigated an attack on a Border Security Force convoy at Udhampur in Jammu last year, which led to the arrest and dismantling of the Lashkar-e-Toiba network in south Kashmir.

The NIA, which is probing the money trail behind the 75-day unrest in Kashmir, summoned the son of hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani for questioning on Wednesday.

Sources said NIA also scrutinised the details of three bank accounts of separatists in a leading private bank. “In two accounts there wasn’t any suspicious transaction, but in one more than Rs 70 lakh transaction has been detected. NIA has zeroed in on some activists and they will be called for questioning,” a source said.