Pathankot attack: Route taken by drug cartel comes handy for terrorists

The operation will end only when the entire area is “fully sanitized”.

A route often used by drug smugglers was apparently followed by terrorists to infiltrate into the border state of Punjab and unleash the deadly attack on an IAF base in Pathankot.

Officials said the gunman have taken position in a two-storied building inside the base, from where they are firing on military positions.

Seven security personnel, including an NSG officer, were also killed in the counter-offensive against the terrorists. “Some casualties are obvious when there is an operation in this scale”, he said.

In a TV briefing from Pathankot, Air Commodore JS Dhamoon said the attackers had burst into a guards’ mess at the airbase, where they were preparing breakfast on Saturday morning.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday chaired a high-level meeting with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar in the wake of terror strike at the Indian Air Force base near Pathankot in Punjab. He said they were quickly engaged by Indian troops and “were unable to move toward their likely intended target” of the area where the base’s aircraft and military equipment are kept.

Earlier on Monday, a senior federal government official had said two militants hiding in the administrative block of the base had been killed on Sunday, but authorities had yet to recover the bodies. So far, five terrorists have been killed and search is still on for at least one.

While the terrorists slit the throat of other two, the police officer, who is facing charges of alleged breach of discipline, was released later and the vehicle was abandoned at Tajpur village, a place which is 2 km from the IAF’s Pathankot air base.

But that appeared premature on Sunday, as shooting broke out after midday, sparking a renewed manhunt on the base, from which Indian Air Force MiG-21 fighter jets and attack helicopters fly. It is also very close to India’s border with Pakistan.

Though exact number of attackers remains unknown, a group of gunmen in military fatigues stormed the base on Saturday at 3:30 a.m.(local time)and triggered a gunfight.

The Defense Ministry said no aircraft or military equipment had been damaged in the fighting.

The attack has raised speculations over the continuation of the thaw in India-Pakistan relations. Rebels in India’s portion of Kashmir have been fighting since 1989 for independence or merger with Pakistan.