Uri attack: NIA files FIR, team visits J&K to collect data on terrorists
New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday registered a case to probe the terror attack at the Army installation in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir in which 18 soldiers were killed and dozens others injured after four Pakistani militants stormed the base.
The NIA took over the investigation from the Jammu and Kashmir Police, which had registered a case on Sunday, and began probe by collecting evidence available with the Army formation at Uri, 102 kms from Srinagar.
Besides the arms and ammunition recovery, two mobile sets were recovered from the four terrorists belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror group and two Global Positioning Systems (GPS).
Official sources said the NIA team, which was now camping at Uri, would collect the DNA samples of the four unidentified terrorists and their pictures would be shown to Jaish cadres lodged in various jails of the state as well as other parts of the country.
Two of the four bodies are charred below the waist, they said.
The sources said while one GPS was damaged due to the fire, the other was being examined with the help of technical experts to ascertain the route taken by the terrorists and whether some help was extended to them by any local.
The place where the attack took place is located barely 6 kilometers from the Line of Control.
The NIA team would prepare a dossier and may make a formal request to Pakistan once the identity of the four was ascertained, the sources said.
Army has also instituted an inquiry into the attack with preliminary investigation suggesting the terrorists had entered the area at least a day before mounting the brazen assault.
The inquiry besides ascertaining lapses, if any, would also suggest measures to prevent such attacks in the future as Pakistani-based groups were indulging more in "shallow infiltration", which means that terrorists strike the first available installation after crossing the Line of Control.
The toll in the attack had on Monday risen to 18 with one more army man succumbing to injuries in Sunday's attack
India had reacted strongly to the deadliest attack on the Army in Jammu and Kashmir in quarter-century-old insurgency with Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly condemning it.
India has blamed Pakistan for the attack, and called for its isolation from the international community. Pakistan has denied the charges vehemently, calling them baseless. A showdown over the issue is taking place at the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Commission between the two countries.
India demanded on Monday that Pakistan stop support for terrorism across the border, as well as 'vacate' the illegally-held Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) instead of trying to internationalise the issue.
Support for a military strike against Pakistan is substantial among the Indian political and military establishment following the Uri attack, but intelligence chiefs are reported to have told Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday that such a step would be risky.
On Monday, both Modi and Rajnath held high-level meetings on the issue, and the PM gave his nod to a strategy of isolating Pakistan in the international arena over the issue. Rajnath Singh held another review meeting on Tuesday on the issue.
