NIA DG visits Pahalgam as hunt for terrorists intensifies in J&K

National Investigation Agency Director General Dadanand Date has arrived in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam where a ghastly terrorist attack killed 26 civilians, mostly tourists, last week.

The anti-terror agency took over the probe into the attack from the Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday and registered a fresh FIR on Saturday, following an order of the Union home ministry.

The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, claimed responsibility for the attack, though it later denied its role.

An NIA team had visited Pahalgam a day after the incident in which 5-6 terrorists sprayed bullets at the tourists after examining their religious identity.

The NIA team is expected to conduct a thorough assessment of the attack site, collect forensic evidence, and help in identifying the perpetrators, reported ANI.

The intelligence agencies recently released a list of 14 local terrorists who, the investigators believe, had helped the foreign terrorists to carry out attacks against in the country.

These terrorists are mainly affiliated with three Pakistan-based terrorist organisations: Hizbul Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). 

The attack, the deadliest in the region in decades, has heightened tension between India and Paksitan as New Delhi alleged cross-border links to the attack.

Search ops on

Meanwhile, the security forces, have intensified their operations in Jammu and Kashmir to track down the terrorists behind the attack.

Police said the searches were carried out across the length and breadth of Srinagar city at 36 locations. Most of the premises belong to terrorists or terrorist sympathisers.

As part of the stepped-up anti-terror operations, security forces have raided more than 600 locations in the Valley in just six days and grilled hundreds of suspects. Authorities have also demolished nine houses of suspected terrorists and overground workers of terror outfits since the April 22 attack.