US gives proof of Pakistan's hand in Pathankot strike

New Delhi: Solidifying India's stand, the United States has handed over evidence confirming that the Pathankot airbase attack, held in January this year, emanated from Pakistan.

India has blamed January 2 attack on an Indian Air Force base at Pathankot on Pakistani terrorists. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is considering filing a charge sheet against Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar in the Pathankot terror attack case.

According to a report in The Times of India, the US has informed the NIA that IP addresses of Facebook accounts of JeM handlers, who were behind the dreaded attack, and IP address of the website of the outfit's financial arm, Al Rahmat Trust, are both located in Pakistan.

The investigation has further found that the Facebook groups accessed by the friends of JeM handler Kashif Jaan were related to jihad and JeM.

Also, they had pictures of the four killed terrorists - Abdul Qayum, Nasir Hussain, Hafiz Abu Bakar, and Umar Farooq.

Also, the web page of Al Rahmat Trust was uploaded on rangonoor.com and alqalamonline.com when the attack took place. This is to be underlined that the websites are administrated by one Tariq Siddiqui with a common e-mail for both sites and the address is - Rafah-e-Aam Society in Malir, Karachi.

"The US has confirmed that all these websites and IP addresses originated in Pakistan and these were uploaded around the time of the Pathankot attack," an official said.

It was also revealed that JeM handler Kashif Jaan was using a Facebook account connected to the same mobile number which the attackers called from Pathankot after kidnapping Punjab police SP Salwinder Singh, reported the daily.

The terrorists had also made contact with another number in Pakistan connected to the Facebook account of "Mulla Daadullah".

These accounts were accessed using IP addresses of Pakistan-based telecom firms (Telenor and Pakistan TeleCommunications Company Ltd).

India has said it was ready for talks with Pakistan but only on "relevant issues" that include cross-border terrorism and follow up on terror attacks in Mumbai and Pathankot.