NIA gets custody of PoK duo who facilitated Uri attack

Faisal Hussain Awan and Ahsaan Khursheed,residents of Muzaffarabad in PoK, were produced before a designated court in Jammu which remanded them in NIA's custody

The NIA on Wednesday secured 10 days' remand of two "guides" from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir who allegedly facilitated infiltration by Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists responsible for the brazen attack on an army camp in Uri earlier this month.

The two — Faisal Hussain Awan and Ahsaan Khursheed — both residents of Muzaffarabad in PoK, were produced before a designated court in Jammu which remanded them in NIA's custody.

The duo has since been brought to the national capital where they would be interrogated by a joint team of officials of various security agencies besides being subjected to scientific tests.

During their preliminary interrogation, the two were claimed to have admitted to having facilitated infiltration by a group of four JeM militants who carried out the Uri army camp attack.

On being shown the photographs of the four terrorists killed in retaliatory action, accused Faisal Hussain Awan identified one of them as Hafeez Ahmed, a resident of village Dharbang, Muzaffarabad, in PoK.

The two were arrested in a joint operation by the BSF and the army at 'Angoor Post' at Gavalata village in Uri last Saturday when they were trying to infiltrate into India.

As both were residents of PoK, the army authorities interrogated them about whether they had any knowledge regarding the Uri attack in which four terrorists had stormed an army camp on September 18 and killed 18 soldiers.

The duo initially said they had inadvertently crossed over into India but during sustained interrogation were claimed to have admitted that they had facilitated the infiltration by Uri attackers and also helped their interrogators identify one of the militants involved in the assault, the sources said.