NIA registers case to probe Jammu AFS drone attack
Image | IANS
Image | IANS
New Delhi | Hours after the Ministry of Home Affairs handed over the probe into the drone attack at an Air Force Station (AFS) in Jammu to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the NIA on Tuesday registered a case to probe the matter.
An NIA spokesperson said that the anti-terror probe agency, in pursuance of the MHA order, has reregistered the case under several sections of the Explosive Substances Act, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Indian Penal Code.
The official said that while the NIA has been working with the other agencies since immediately after the incident, pursuant to the re-registration of the case, requisite actions as per the law have been initiated.
An NIA team had visited the blast scene on Sunday to collect samples from the spot.
In a first of its kind terrorist attack in the country, two drones were used to drop explosives at the vital military installation on the intervening night of June 26-27. Two consecutive explosions took place within a gap of five minutes at the high-security Jammu Air Force Station, injuring two personnel on duty in the technical area. The drones later flew away.
In the two back-to-back explosions, which occurred at 1.37 a.m. and 1.42 a.m., the roof of a building was damaged. However, the explosives missed the aircraft hangar nearby. No valuable equipment was damaged in the attack.
The Air Force Station is about 14-15 km from the nearest point on the International Border (IB) with Pakistan. The farthest that a drone from Pakistan has come so far on the Indian side of the IB and Line of Control (LoC) in the Jammu region is 12 km.
Pakistan-based terrorists are suspected to be behind the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to attack the Air Force Station, officials said.
The attack on the Air Force Station took place a few hours after Jammu and Kashmir Police arrested an alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba operative with an improvised explosive device (IED) weighing nearly 5 kg in Jammu.
IANS
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