4 gunmen, 2 troops dead in attack on Indian air base

Top security officials in Delhi said the intent of terrorists clearly was to cause maximum destruction at the Air base which was thwarted in “one of the most successful counter-terror operations”. “Three of our soldiers have lost their lives and several people have been wounded in the operation”.

Gunmen attacked the air force base near the border with Pakistan on Satur…

Fresh gunfire was again heard at the base at around 0545 GMT as police combed the installation looking for militants still hiding out in buildings, television channels reported.

In the wake of the attack, Punjab has been put on maximum alert while security measures were also tightened in neighbouring Haryana and common capital of the two states- Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh, official sources said.

He said that the attack on the first day of the New Year in Pathankot is a matter of serious concern and the Opposition party expresses its deep concerns on this evolving situation of the internal security in the country.

India accuses Pakistan of arming and training Kashmir’s rebels, a claim Islamabad denies.

Sameer Patil, a security analyst at the Gateway House think-tank in Mumbai, said Saturday’s attack was likely to be a cross-border strike possibly carried out in retaliation for the visit.

Pakistan on Saturday condemned the terrorist attack on an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot in Indian Punjab.

In a major security breach, terrorists entered an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot early on Saturday and engaged the security forces in a fierce gunfight.

Government had also deployed a couple of attack helicopters to hunt down the terrorists that some news reports suggest to have sneaked into India from Pakistan.

The remaining terrorists have been cordoned to the domestic area of Air Force Station and the technical area of the airbase is safe.

The visit was seen as a potential sign of thawing relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. The Muslim-majority region remains a bone of contention that India only recently agreed to discuss after months of on-off attempts to relaunch talks.

We want good ties with Pakistan but a befitting reply will be given to any terror attack, says Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

India’s defense minister, national security adviser and the chiefs of the army, navy and air force met Saturday to discuss the situation.

In July, gunmen staged a similar attack at a police station and a moving bus near Gurdaspur, a border town in India’s Punjab state.