The discovery of the X-ray source IGR~J17252 $ - $ 3616 by INTEGRAL was reported on 9 February 2004 .
Regular monitoring by INTEGRAL shows that IGR~J17252 $ - $ 3616 is a persistent hard X-ray source with an average count rate of 0.96 counts \textrm { s } ^ { -1 } ( \sim 6.4 mCrab ) in the 20–60 keV energy band .
A follow-up observation with XMM-Newton which was performed on 21 March 21 2004 , showed that the source is located at R.A. ( 2000.0 ) = 17 ^ { h } 25 ^ { m } 11.4 ^ { s } and Dec . = -36 \degr 16 \arcmin 58.6 \arcsec with an uncertainty of 4 \arcsec .
The only infra-red counterpart to be found within the XMM-Newton error circle was 2MASS~J17251139 $ - $ 3616575 , which has a Ks-band magnitude of 10.7 and is located 1 \arcsec away from the XMM-Newton position .

The analysis of the combined INTEGRAL and XMM-Newton observations shows that the source is a binary X-ray pulsar with a spin period of 413.7 s and an orbital period of 9.72 days .
The spectrum can be fitted with a flat power law plus an energy cut off ( \Gamma \sim 0.02 ,E _ { \mathrm { c } } \sim 8.2 \mathrm { keV } ) or a Comptonized model ( kT _ { \textrm { \tiny e } } \sim 5.5 \mathrm { keV } , \tau \sim 7.8 ) .
The spectrum also indicates a large hydrogen column density of N _ { \mathrm { H } } \sim 15 10 ^ { 22 } \mathrm { atoms } \textrm { cm } ^ { -2 } suggesting an intrinsic absorption .
The Fe K \alpha line at 6.4 keV is clearly detected .
Phase-resolved spectroscopy does not show any variation in the continuum except the total emitted flux .
The absorption is constant along the pulse phase .
This source can be associated with EXO~1722 $ - $ 363 as both systems show common timing and spectral features .
The observations suggest that the source is a wind-fed accreting pulsar accompanied by a supergiant star .