Uri attack: Arrested PoK guides say they helped other infiltrators too

The two guides arrested for helping Uri attackers cross over the LoC have told their interrogators that they rendered similar services to at least half a dozen groups of infiltrators in the past as well.

The two guides arrested for helping Uri attackers cross over the LoC have told their interrogators that they rendered similar services to at least half a dozen groups of infiltrators in the past as well.

Smoke rises from the army base in Uri which was attacked by by militants on September 18, 2016.(PTI Photo)

The NIA, which is probing the case, arrested Faisal Hussain Awan, 20, and Ahsaan Khursheed, 19, on Monday after they were apprehended by the villagers in Uri sector due to their suspicious movement. Both of them were later handed over to the security forces.

Both Awan and Khursheed are residents of Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK).

“They have disclosed that they were tasked by commanders of Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) to facilitate the infiltration of a group of four cadres who carried out the Uri attack,” said NIA in a statement.

The statement added when Awan was shown photographs of the four slain attackers, he identified one of them as Hafeez Ahmed, a resident of Dharbang village in Muzaffarabad.