Gunmen Attack Indian Air Force Base

It’s been a norm in India that whenever the government seems willing to talk to Pakistan, a terrorist attack occurs somehow and all the efforts go back to square-1.

Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Saturday condemned the terror attack on the Air Force base in Pathankot, saying it was a clear attempt by rogue elements in Pakistan to sabotage the peace process, which must not be allowed to be happen.

An IAF chopper was seeing hovering above the site and a National Security Guard team has also teamed up along with the Indian Army to foil the terrorist plans. It’s also very close to India’s border with rival Pakistan.

Earlier, an Indian Defense Ministry spokesman, Dhananjay Mohanty, said the attackers were “intercepted” before they could storm the Pathankot airbase and that the situation was under control.

Security personnel stand alert on a road leading to an airforce base in Pathankot.

Attacking an air base is a serious security threat.

“The terrorists were contained in one area of the air force station”.

Talks with Pakistan will take place with terror as the key issue, union Minister Prakash Javadekar said hours after some unidentified terrorists attacked the Indian Air Force (IAF) base near Punjab’s Pathankot town early Saturday.

There were intelligence reports that terrorists could attack defence installations in the region around the New Year.

TV footage showed armed guards outside the heavily fortified air base, which is located 50 kilometres from the border with Pakistan.

Police said they suspected the gunmen were militants, and were investigating whether they had come from the Indian portion of Kashmir or from Pakistan.

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

India blames Pakistan’s security establishment for supporting groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed, which Pakistan denies.

In July, three gunmen dressed in army uniforms opened fire on a bus and then attacked a police station in the nearby Gurdaspur district of Punjab, killing seven people including four policemen. The Himalayan region of Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, but is claimed in its entirety by both.

And while insurgents frequently target police in the volatile Kashmir region, Punjab, a majority-Sikh state, has largely been spared the violence.