Gunmen attempt to storm Indian air base

Pathankot: Four terrorists have been killed and three defence personnel have been martyred in the attack on the Indian Air Force Base in Pathankot in Punjab where an operation by Security Forces has been underway for over seven hours. Once inside, they opened fire indiscriminately. The ministry did not say anything about how the incident would affect relations with Pakistan.

The terror attack was faced with anti terror operations at the base by the army.

A group of terrorists launched an attack at the Pathankot air base early this morning.

“The moment that Modi touched down in Lahore (and probably even before), something like this was doomed to happen”, said Michael Kugelman, a South Asia expert at the Wilson Center think tank in Washington.

It is suspected that the terror attack was carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and the attackers, who had been ordered to blow up the helicopters kept at the base, belong to Bhawalpur in Pakistan.

His comments were interpreted by Indian analysts as showing restraint and indicating that New Delhi wanted to continue talks with Pakistan.

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

“Two of the attackers are believed to be dead in the gunfight while the rest are holding out inside one of the buildings in the base”, he said.

Security at railway stations of both Punjab and Haryana has also been increased, officials said.

According to the reports, the attack is as similar as the raid a year ago by gunmen on a border town in Punjab that killed nine people.

Authorities had put Punjab on high alert Friday after five gunmen in army fatigues hijacked a vehicle driven by a senior police officer, which was later found abandoned on a highway connecting Pathankot to Kashmir.

The Pathankot air base houses dozens of fighter jets and is important for its strategic location about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the Pakistan border.

Indian intelligence agencies apparently had prior information of the attacks, which helped them react quickly.

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

India accuses Pakistan of arming and training Kashmiri rebels, a charge denied by Islamabad.

“It is a clear attempt by rogue elements in Pakistan to subvert and sabotage the peace process between the two countries (India and Pakistan) which must not be allowed at any cost”, the Congress Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha said here.