US confirms Pak role in Pathankot strike, provides crucial evidence to NIA

Earlier reports also indicated that JeM handler who coordinated the attack has fled from Pakistan and is currently in Afghanistan.

Mumbai: Confirming Pakistan’s involvement in Pathankot airbase attack, the US handed over crucial evidence to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) revealing that the IP addresses of the Facebook groups used by the handlers traced back to Pakistan.

The IP addresses of the Jaish-e-Mohammed handlers who controlled the attack, and the IP address of the website of JeM’s financial arm, Al Rahmat Trust, were located in Pakistan, reports said. “The US has confirmed that all these websites and IP addresses originated in Pakistan and the photos were uploaded around the time of the attack,” a member of the Joint Investigation Team probing the attack reportedly said.

Read: Terrorists hiding near Pathankot, another attack on airbase likely The Facebook group related to JeM also contained photographs of the four terrorists - Nasir Hussain, Hafiz Abu Bakar, Umar Farooq and Abdul Qayum – killed in the attack.

A handler of the JeM, recognised as Kashif Jaan, accessed these Facebook groups through the mobile phone number that the Pathankot terrorists rung up after abducting Punjab SP Salwinder Singh.

Earlier reports also indicated that the JeM handler who coordinated the attack has fled from Pakistan and is currently in Afghanistan.

The Pathankot attack took place days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif on his birthday on December 25. Seven Indian security personnel and five militants were killed in a gunfight at the airbase on January 2.

(This article first appeared in Deccan Chronicle)