NIA to probe Nagrota terror attack

The agency has said in its FIR that the identity of terrorists remains unknown but they had ‘foreign handlers’

Army Chief Gen Dalbir Singh visits the Army camp in Nagrota near Jammu, a day after the militant attack. File photo

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday took over the probe into the terror attack at the Nagrota Army camp following an order of the Union Home Ministry. The NIA has said in its First Information Report that the identity of the terrorists who stormed the camp still remains unknown but they had “foreign handlers.”

“Some heavily armed unknown terrorists, on the directions of their foreign handlers, entered into the Army Camp at Nagrota, near the Baleeni Bridge, and started indiscriminate firing upon Army personnel,” an NIA statement said.

The decision comes a day after

The Hindu reported that the Army was reluctant to hand over the probe into the Nagrota terror attack to the NIA and had asked the agency to come up with a ‘specific brief’ but made it clear that it was for the Army to investigate the “operational and tactical aspects.”

“The actions of the terrorists constitute scheduled offences under Sections 16,18 and 20 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. A team of officers of the NIA shall be reaching Jammu shortly to visit the crime scene and commence the investigation,” the NIA statement said.

On November 29, a group of heavily armed terrorists, disguised in police uniform, attacked an Army unit located three km from the Corps Headquarters at Nagrota where seven Army personnel, including two officers, were killed.