New Delhi: The government on Tuesday handed over the probe into the drone attack on the Jammu air force station to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Explosives were dropped on the Indian Air Force station in Jammu by two drones in the early hours of Sunday, injuring two personnel.
The investigation into the attack on the Jammu air force station has been handed over to the NIA, a Home Ministry spokesperson said.
The IAF attack is the first instance of suspected Pakistan-based terrorists deploying drones to strike at the country's vital installations.
According to central security agencies, over 300 drones and unidentified flying objects have been sighted along the sensitive border with Pakistan post the August 5, 2019 abrogation of Article 370 that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, even as they grappled to find a suitable technology to check these lethal sky-floaters.
On Monday, Army sentries at the Ratnuchak-Kaluchak military station in Jammu fired at the two drones that later disappeared, an incident that came hours after the nearby IAF station witnessed the first terror attack using quadcopters.
The first drone was spotted at around 11.45 pm on Sunday followed by another at 2.40 am the next day over the military station, which was targeted by terrorists in 2002 in which 31 people were killed including 10 children.
The military station at Kaluchak has been on high alert ever since the 2002 terror attack. Military personnel, family members of Army men and civilians were among the 31 killed in the deadly attack. Forty-eight people were also injured.
A day after the attack, the Jammu IAF station continued to remain out of bounds for all but the probe teams including one from the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which picked up every bit of evidence available on the ground.
Officials said the explosive material dropped by the drones might have been manufactured using a cocktail of chemicals including RDX but a final confirmation was still awaited.
They said an NSG post-blast analysis team has been sent to the IAF station to examine the material. This team will share its findings with the Jammu and Kashmir police and the NIA after completing the task.
The explosions took place around 1.40 am on Sunday within six minutes of each other. The first blast ripped off the roof of a single-storey building at the technical area of the airport manned by the IAF in Satwari area on the outskirts of the city. The second one was on the ground.
Various probe agencies and senior officers of the army, police and other security agencies visited the IAF station for the second day on Monday, while the Army's Quick Reaction Teams were seen patrolling the areas outside the base at regular intervals.
