Gunmen attack Indian air base near Pakistan border; 2 killed

In view of the attack, Punjab had been put on maximum alert while security measures were also tightened in neighbouring Haryana and common capital of the two states- Chandigarh.

Indian security officials, speaking to news media, said that the suspected attackers hijacked the vehicle of a senior police official along a highway outside Pathankot early Saturday.

India blamed Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants for that attack.

There was no official communication on the nature of the firing, even as army officers said that the area is being sanitised.

The raid was blamed on militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed, which was partly responsible for a 2001 assault on the parliament building in New Delhi that left 14 people dead, including five attackers.

Police were investigating whether the militants came from the Indian portion of Kashmir or from Pakistan.

It lies on the road linking Indian-administered Kashmir with the rest of the country, near to the border with Pakistan.

Pakistan moved to condemn the attack Saturday afternoon, describing it as a “terrorist incident”.

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.

Since the security apparatus was aware of the impending terror attack, a NSG team was stationed at the Pathankot airbase along with a few columns of army to foil the terrorist plans. This happened near Damtal hills on the Punjab-Himachal border just 15 kilometers from the Pakistan border. The new strategy of the terrorists is to identify defence bases near the border and launch attacks, ‘ said the official, who was not authorised to comment on the record.

India’s home minister Rajnath Singh said India wanted peace with Pakistan but “if there is any kind of terror attack on India, we will give it a fitting reply”.

However, the most recent attack was much more audacious in targeting a large military facility, from which India’s Russian-made fleet of MiG-21 fighter jets and Mi-35 attack helicopters fly.

India and Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir since independence and partition in 1947.

On July 27 past year, three militants opened fire in a bus and then stormed a police station in Dina Nagar, Gurdaspur, before being killed after 12-hour gun battle.

It was not yet clear if there was any link with Saturday’s attack.

The neighbours recently chose to start a dialogue process, with the foreign secretaries of both countries scheduled to meet in Islamabad this month.