Fifth Militant Killed As Troops Comb Air Base

Indian security forces have killed five militants so far in the attack, said Major General Dushyant Singh, of India’s counter-terrorism force, the National Security Guard.

Operations at the air base are winding up with six heavily armed terrorists killed after two days of fighting, even though security forces will take time to search the entire area for hidden explosives.

Pakistan Foreign Office said on Monday that they were working on the “leads” provided by India with regard to the terror attack at Pathankot air base.

The NSG officer added: “Because of the magnitude of the air base, the operation will continue till we are able to fully render it safe”. Two more columns were added subsequently. The Pathankot airbase has been under attack by militants since the early hours of Saturday morning.

Defence officials have said authorities had been alerted about a potential attack in the area on Friday, and that aerial surveillance at the base spotted the gunmen as they entered the compound, leading to criticism of the handling of the situation.

Although there were no claims of responsibility for the two incidents, the timings pointed to a deliberate effort by Islamic radicals to sabotage peace initiatives in the region.

The air base attack coincided with a militant strike on the Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif that was successfully thwarted by the Afghan Army’s Special Forces.

The sixth gunman was killed Monday at the airbase, ending the three-day combing operation against the attackers, according to local media.

“There could be a meeting or contact between the national security advisers of the two countries (who are to discuss terrorism under the new framework of dialogue agreed to by the two countries recently) before the foreign secretaries meet”, Mansingh said.

Four militants involved in Saturday’s attack on the base were killed on Saturday, but others were still engaged in a firefight with the security forces. After Pakistan’s latest statement, where it condemned the Pathankot attack and expressed condolences for the death of soldiers, one Indian official told The Hindu, “These are still words”. “India and Pakistan are important countries in South Asia”. The foreign secretaries of both nations are to meet in Islamabad later this month. India’s Foreign Secretary Jaishankar is scheduled to travel to Islamabad on January 14 to hold discussions with his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry to chalk out a roadmap to carry forward the engagement under the newly-announced ‘Bilateral Comprehensive Dialogue’.

“The attack on Pathankot Air Base from Kashmiri Mujhadeen carries a message to India that no security establishment and garrison are out of reach from militants”.