Identity of group behind Uri attack 'still under investigation'

NEW DELHI: In the wake of Lashker-e-Taiba declaring one of the four fidayeen behind the Uri attack as “its lion-hearted warrior”, contradicting the Indian Army’s initial claim pinning the blame on Jaish-e-Mohammad, a senior home ministry official said identity of the group behind the strike “is still a matter of investigation”.
Though the director general of military operations (DGMO) here had named Jaish as the perpetrator on the very day of the attack, investigations since have cast a confusion on the affiliation of the Uri fidayeen.Sources in the security establishment told TOI that the communication codes mentioned in the matrix sheets recovered from the slain fidayeen were those used by LeT. Also, prior intelligence shared with the Army three days before the attack had mentioned the presence of around 8 Lashker fidayeen just across the LoC, warning that they were waiting to cross over to Uri with likely plans to attack the Army camp there.
“The Army may have named Jaish based on some report/inputs it had at the time. But, ideally, the perpetrators cannot be conclusively identified at the outset. One needs to wait for investigations to establish the affiliation of the attackers,” said a top officer of the security establishment.
TOI had reported earlier that that the DGMO's claim naming Jaish behind Uri attack was based on a call intercepted between a Jaish operative and a mediaperson in Kashmir on the day of the attack, in which the former had owned responsibility.
There are indications that NIA will examine the LeT’s claim as part of its probe into the Uri attack conspiracy.