Drone attacks traced to Lashkar, RDX used in payload
Jammu Tawi, June 28: The preliminary probe into the Indian Air Force base attack has revealed that it was the handiwork of the Pakistan backed terror group, Lashkar-e-Tayiba.
It has been learnt that the attack was aimed at targeting the Air Traffic Control. Two explosions were reported on Sunday. While one targeted the ATC, the other was aimed at hitting an IAF chopper.
Sources informed us that the explosive was meant to land on a chopper, but it missed the target.The suspected drones used in Sunday’s attack dropped an explosive on the roof of a building at the station. Another explosive meant to target an aircraft missed the target and exploded in an open area, the source cited above said.
Investigations have found that TNT was used in the explosives in the attack. There were four kilograms of TNT in one explosive, while the other had 5 kilograms.
Sources said that the drone that was used to drop the explosives took off from a nearby area. Further investigations continue.
A preliminary analysis of the payload carried by the two drones used in attacking the Indian Air Force station in Jammu on Sunday indicates that a cocktail of chemicals including RDX may have been used, officials said Monday, with investigators yet to establish the flight path of the unmanned aerial vehicles.
The IAF station located at Jammu airport continued to remain out of bounds for everyone with probe teams, which included one from the National Investigation Agency, picking up every bit of evidence available on the ground.
The officials said the explosive material dropped by the drones might have been manufactured using a cocktail consisting of RDX but a final confirmation was still awaited.
They said an National Security Guard post-blast analysis team has been sent to the IAF station to study the material. This team will share its findings with the Jammu and Kashmir police and the NIA after completing the task.
In what is the first instance of Pakistan-based terrorists deploying drones to strike vital installations, two bombs were dropped at the IAF station in Jammu Airport in the early hours of Sunday, causing minor injuries to two IAF personnel.
Drones cannot be detected by radars deployed at border areas to monitor enemy activity, they said, suggesting that a different radar system that can detect drones as small as a bird be installed.
The drones dropped the explosive material and were either flown back across the border or to some other destination during the night, the officials said.
The aerial distance from the Jammu airport to the international border is 14 km.
Jammu airport is a civil airport with the runway and the ATC (air traffic control) under the IAF.
The Jammu and Kashmir Police has registered an FIR under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, officials said, indicating that the case is likely to be taken over by the NIA.
“The NIA is already supervising the investigation at the scene of the blast after joining the probe,” one of the officials had said Sunday.
The FIR was also registered under relevant sections of the Explosive Substances Act and the Indian Penal Code at the Satwari police station on the application of a junior warrant officer of the IAF, he said.
