New Delhi: No lesson seems to have been learned from the 2016 Pathankot terror attack as an NIA investigation into the Sunjuwan Army camp attack has revealed that the terrorists breached not one, but two perimeter walls of the camp in February.
“There were no sentries on the outside wall which is about 10 feet high and we have found foot holds on this wall. It looks like the terrorists scaled this wall, crossed the empty ground and then breached a second wall about 150 meters away, before entering the camp," a top NIA official told News18.
Moreover, similarities between the Pathankot attack and the latest Sunjuwan attack has forced the investigating agency to believe that the latter may also be the handiwork of Jaish-e-Mohammad.
Though NIA has not conclusively identified the terrorists yet, officials say there are a lot of similarities in the modus operandi of the Pathankot attack, Handwara and Sunjuwan. The similarities have made NIA believe that Sunjuwan, too, was the handiwork of Jaish-e-Mohammed.
“There are a number of similarities between all of these cases. The modus operandi of breaching the perimeter security, mentions of the Afzal Guru squad and the website rang-o-noor.com are common among all three cases," the official said.
Also, the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) probe into the Pathankot airbase attack had revealed that terrorists used a fence cutter to cut the wire before jumping over the perimeter wall and entering the high security IAF airbase. Sources say no fence cutter has been recovered so far from the Sunjuwan attackers or the camp, but searches are on.
Three AK-56-wielding terrorists wearing Army combat uniform entered the residential quarters of the Sunjuwan Army camp on February 10. They were killed in an encounter that lasted more than 36 hours.
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman blamed Pakistan-based terror groups for the attack and warned the neighbours saying they "will pay for its misadventure".
Meanwhile, NIA registered an FIR last week under Sections 7 and 27 of the Arms Act and Sections 16 and 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. A team led by an IG-level officer is in Jammu to probe how terrorists entered the Army camp and killed 7 people, including 6 soldiers and a civilian.
Preliminary investigation by the NIA has revealed that the outer most wall of the camp does not have sentry deployment. “The inside wall or the second wall had sentries deployed and also lights. It seems nothing was detected till the time the terrorists opened fire," an investigating officer told News18.
Investigating officers agree with the Indian Army's initial assessment that the terrorists had not infiltrated recently to carry out the attack. "The recoveries made from them suggest that they had not infiltrated recently. The labels on the items recovered from them are Indian," the official said.
Indian agencies had earlier said that the terrorists who attacked Sunjuwan were part of a larger group that had infiltrated the Indian territory in June 2017.
NIA is also not ruling out the possibilities of local support to the terrorists at this stage and officials say they are also investigating if any insider helped them with information about sentry deployment, perimeter security and layout of the camp.
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