IAF base attack: Why the role of Pakistan state players cannot be ruled out

New Delhi, July 03: While the probe into the drone attack at the Indian Air Force base points to the role of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba the role of Pakistan state players is not being ruled out.

Director General of Police, Jammu and Kashmir, Dilbagh Singh said that there is a strong suspicion that the Lashkar-e-Tayiba was behind the incident, but the involvement of Pakistan state agencies cannot be ruled. He said that this is because an IED attack had been planned by the Lashkar-e-Tayiba at a crowded place in Jammu the same evening. Since the Lashkar is run from Pakistan, in a way Pakistan's involvement cannot be ruled out, Singh also said. The question however is to what extent are the Pakistan agencies involved, he also said.

He said that the IED was sent by the LeT in a similar fashion from Pakistan and it was to be planted at some crowded place so that there was the largest possible casualties in the attack. Luckily we had information and were able to intercept and capture the operative who gave certain leads on the basis of which we recovered the IED and the terror attack was averted he also said.

Investigators that OneIndia spoke with too agreed with the DGP's analysis and said that the presence of highly sophisticated material used in the IAF base strike clearly indicated the role played by the Pakistan agencies.

Two bombs weighing over 2 kilograms each were dropped from a height of 150 meters and were activated by impact charge. It is however unclear where the drone could have originated from, but the initial findings found that it could have been from the Indian side itself. The agencies also do not rule out the possibility of the the drone emerging from the Pakistan side close to the border.

It has been learnt that the attack was aimed at targeting the Air Traffic Control. Two explosions were reported on Sunday. While one targeted the ATC, the other was aimed at hitting an IAF chopper. Sources tell OneIndia that the explosive was meant to land on a chopper, but it missed the target.

The suspected drones used in Sunday's attack dropped an explosive on the roof of a building at the station. Another explosive meant to target an aircraft missed the target and exploded in an open area, the source cited above said.