The National Investigation Agency team, which is camping in Uri for the past two days, is reported to have collected DNA samples from the scene of Sunday’s terror attack in which 18 Army jawans were k
The National Investigation Agency team, which is camping in Uri for the past two days, is reported to have collected DNA samples from the scene of Sunday’s terror attack in which 18 Army jawans were killed and over twenty wounded.
The team has also obtained DNA fingerprints of the four slain militants besides their photographs, which would be shown to Jaish-e-Muhammad cadres lodged in various jails of Jammu and Kashmir and outside the state, in the belief this could help the investigators in identifying the attackers.
The bodies of two of the four militants who are known to be members of a Jaish “fidayeen” squad are charred below the waist, official sources said. The attackers were also carrying with them two global positioning system devices.
While one of these was damaged in the fire in the barracks they had positioned themselves in during the fire fight, the other has been examined with the help of technical experts to ascertain the route taken by them.
A preliminary examination of the recovered GPS has revealed that they had deleted some of important data related to the co-ordinates and locations of the route they used for infiltration. The GPS is likely to be sent for detailed examination to the FBI’s lab in United States. The FBI had also helped Indian agencies in de-coding the GPS seized during the Gurdaspur terror attack.
The NIA team is also trying to ascertain if there were any security lapses on part of the Army which led to the deadly attack and whether the militants’ group received any help from any local source. There are indications that the militants may have sneaked into Uri through Gawalan Chronda behind Jabla Nallah, the shortest route as the distance between the LoC and the place of the attack is just 5 or 6 km.
The J&K police had on Sunday registered an FIR at the concerned police station over the incident, but before it could take up the investigation an announcement was made in Delhi that the NIA has been asked to probe the attack. On Tuesday, the NIA formally took over the investigation from the J&K police after registering a case. Sources said that the NIA team would prepare a dossier and may make a formal request to Pakistan once the identity of the four was ascertained.
