Pathankot: Mystery behind delay in launching attack solved

Bengaluru, Jan 10: The National Investigating Agency appears to have solved the mystery relating to the Pathankot attack.

Investigators were curious as to why the terrorists despite infiltrating the Pathankot air force station on January 1 2016 itself took 24 hours to launch the attack.

It may be recalled that two terrorists had infiltrated into the air force base on January 1 itself and the attack was launched on January 2, 3.30 AM after the four others reached the spot.

NIA officials say that after the six terrorists infiltrated into India, it was decided that they would split up into groups of two. While two terrorists would reach the air base first, the rest were to join them in about half an hour.

As per their plan, the two terrorists reached the air base first on January 1 itself. However the other four took almost 24 hours to reach the air force station.

Delay mystery solved:

The NIA has learnt that the delay was due to communication gap between the two groups of terrorists. The terrorists were carrying a walkie-talkie with them to communicate with each other.

They had two sets of walkie-talkies with them. While two terrorists with their walkie-talkie reached the base, the remaining four were in the car of the Superintendent of police.

The four terrorists while disembarking from the vehicle of the SP forgot to take the walkie- talkie with them. It was only later that they may have realised that they had forgotten their communication device.

Due to this there was a gap in communicating with the two terrorists already at the base.
While the four terrorists took a lot of time to find their way to the base, the remaining two waited for them.

It was only at around 3 AM on January 2 the four terrorists were able to make contact with the remaining two after they reached the base. The attack began at 3.30 am. While the two terrorists provided cover fire, the remaining tried to infiltrate the base.

OneIndia News