NIA scanner on foreign terrorists involved in Poonch attack: Sources

The National Investigation Agency has taken over the probe into the Poonch attack in which five soldiers were martyred.

A team of the NIA visited the spot and collected samples, official sources tell OneIndia. The team according to the source scanned the entire area and looked for clues to find out the direction from where the terrorists have opened fire. There is however no clarity on whether it was the Jaish-e-Mohammad or Lashkar-e-Tayiba which carried out the attack.

Preliminary reports suggest that there were foreign terrorists involved in the attack. There were around five to seven terrorists, the source said of which foreign militants were also involved the source said. The source also said that 3 among the attackers were foreigners. Currently we are verifying if the claim by the Jaish-e-Mohammad that it carried out the attack is right or not, the source said.

A Jaish-e-Mohammad backed group called asa the People's Anti-Fascist Front has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Official said that the attack was timed in such a manner that Pakistan wanted to create havoc and panic amidst the ongoing G20 summit in India. The attack took place on the same day that Pakistan announced that its foreign minister, Bilawal Bhutto would visit India for the G20 meeting.

Pakistan has known to derail peace talks with India, each time New Delhi has taken an initiative. The Mumbai 26/11 attacks were staged to derails peace talks and so were the attacks in Pathankot.

The Poonch attack was not small by any nature and the action will be strong another official said. We are awaiting for the initial report by the NIA, following which the next course of action will be taken, the official added.