Revealed! How four Pakistani terrorists, who attacked Pathankot airbase, were identified

New Delhi: Even as Pakistan's envoy Abdul Basit ruled out allowing a visit by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) of India to Pakistan to probe the Pathankot airbase terror attack, details emerged on Friday on how the Pakistani terrorists, who attacked the facility early on January 2 this year, were identified.

As per a report in The Hindu, anonymous individuals from Pakistan had assisted in the identification of the slain Pakistani terrorists.

The report said the Pakistani nationals provided the information after the NIA uploaded the photos of four Pathankot terrorists on its website in March.

According to government officials, anonymous citizens from several countries, including Pakistan, contacted Indian officials and provided information about the four slain terrorists who were killed in the operation at the Pathankot Air Force base.

This information, in addition to phone intercepts and technical intelligence, helped identify the four men.

A senior government official said the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), sent by Pakistan to India recently to probe the Pathankot attack, was also convinced about the details.

The four terrorists were identified by the NIA to be Hafiz Abu Bakar (resident of Gujranwala, Punjab), Umar Farooq (Sanghar, Sindh), Nasir Hussain (Vehari, Punjab), and Abdul Qayum (Sukkur, Sindh).

The Pakistani JIT has also been given DNA samples of the slain terrorists to track their family members and match it with them.