US gives new information on Pakistan's hand in Pathankot attack

NEW DELHI: Even as the NIA is examining the option of filing a chargesheet against Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar in the Pathankot terror attack case, confirming that the strike emanated from Pakistan.

The US has informed the NIA that IP addresses of Facebook accounts of JeM handlers who masterminded the January attack and IP address of the website of the outfit's financial arm, Al Rahmat Trust, are located in Pakistan. The probe revealed that FB groups accessed by friends of JeM handler Kashif Jaan were related to jihad and JeM and contained photos of the four killed terrorists - Nasir Hussain, Hafiz Abu Bakar, Umar Farooq and Abdul Qayum.

At the time of the attack, the webpage of Al Rahmat Trust was uploaded on rangonoor.com and alqalamonline.com, which are administrated by one Tariq Siddiqui with a common email for both sites, and its address is in 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," an official said.


It was found that Jaan was using a FB account connected to the same mobile number which the attackers called from Pathankot after abducting Punjab police SP Salwinder Singh. The terrorists had also called another number in Pakistan connected to the FB account of "Mulla Daadullah". These accounts were accessed around the time of the attack using IP addresses of Pakistan-based telecom firms (Telenor and Pakistan TeleCommunications Company Ltd).