NIA: Nagrota camp attackers had come through Samba

Amir Karim Tantray

Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 27

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing the Nagrota terror attack of November 29, 2016, in its investigation has revealed that the militants, who attacked an Army installation near the 16 Corps headquarters, had infiltrated through the Samba sector on the International Border (IB).

The probe has authenticated The Tribune story published on December 1, 2016, which said the militants had infiltrated through the Samba sector along the International Border. The Tribune was the only newspaper to report about the infiltration route of the militants.

During the encounter, the Army had recovered war-like stores from the militants. On the same day, the BSF had managed to kill three infiltrators in the Samba sector and had made huge recoveries. The recoveries made by the Army and the BSF at the two places were similar in nature and sources had told The Tribune that all militants were part of one group of infiltrators which had split in to two sub-groups.

The Tribune had further reported that the militants were provided support by sleeper cells in Jammu which ferried them from Samba to Jammu and to the encounter site before launching the attack.

On Saturday, the NIA arrested the main accused, Syed Muneer-Ul-Hassan Qadri, a resident of Hurhama, Kupwara, in connection with the case. Qadri has revealed how he helped the militants.

This has also authenticated The Tribune story that the sleeper cells had helped the militants to reach the encounter site safely and launch the attack.

On November 29, 2016, fidayeen militants had attacked an Army camp at Nagrota in which seven Army personnel, including two Majors, were killed and three others were injured. Three Pakistani terrorists were also killed in the operation and a huge quantity of arms, ammunition, explosives and other articles were recovered from the slain terrorists.

After the attack, the investigation was handed over to the NIA by the Union Home Ministry.

Nov 29, 2016, incident

On November 29, 2016, fidayeen militants had attacked an Army camp at Nagrota in which seven Army personnel, including two Majors, were killed and three others were injured. Three Pakistani terrorists were also killed in the operation and a huge quantity of arms, ammunition, explosives and other articles were recovered from the slain terrorists.