A Pakistani team arrived in New Delhi on Sunday to help investigate an attack on an Indian air force base that killed seven soldiers in January, a foreign ministry official said. India has blamed Islamist militants from Jaish-e-Mohammed for the assault on Pathankot air base in the northern state of Punjab, which led to two days of gunbattles. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar told parliament earlier this month it could not have been carried out "without the (Pakistan) state's support".

It will be the first time Pakistan has taken part in a probe of this kind with India, an Indian foreign ministry source has said.

India's Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj announced plans for the visit after meeting foreign affairs adviser Sartaj Aziz in Nepal earlier this month. The foreign ministry official told AFP the five-member team had arrived from Pakistan and would start work on Monday. The Hindu newspaper said they had been given 15-day visas.

Other local media reports said the team would be escorted by Indian investigators to the attack site and allowed to interview eyewitnesses. The rare targeting of an Indian military installation outside held Kashmir came days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surprise visit to Pakistan in December as a gesture of friendship. The assault led to the postponement of planned peace talks. Modi urged his counterpart Nawaz Sharif to take "firm and immediate action" over the raid.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2016