India air force base attack leaves 4 gunmen, 2 troops dead

“We have also lost security personnel in Pathankot attack”.

The five heavily-armed Pakistani terrorists, who carried out the suicide attack on the key Pathankot IAF base in Punjab, are believed to have infiltrated into India during the intervening night of December 30-31 from a spot near Bamiyal village in Pathankot, located close to the worldwide border.

ZEE TV is stating that the attackers entered India three days ago while another News channel NDTV is claiming that the aim of terrorists was to destroy helicopters and aircrafts inside the air base.

Indian officials and media blame Pakistan-based militants for the attack. Four suspected militants were also killed in the fighting.

Modi condemned the attack and said that enemies of humanity who could not see the nation succeed had attempted to cause harm to the armed forces. “I am happy that our forces gave a befitting response in Punjab, I am proud of them”.

An Indian government official told CNN that two members of the Indian Security Forces, one civilian, and four of the militants were killed in the resulting gunfight.

Indian security forces Saturday afternoon wound up their combing operation against militants who attacked an airbase in the northern state of Punjab near the Pakistan border, killing another gunman.

Saturday’s attack comes just a week after India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an unannounced visit to Pakistan to meet Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

It was the first visit to Pakistan in 12 years by an Indian prime minister and marked a significant thaw in the mostly hard relations between the nuclear-armed nations.

The statement said intelligence inputs had been received of a likely attempt by terrorists to infiltrate into the military installation and preparatory action had been taken to thwart any such attempt.

India and Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir since independence and partition in 1947. It also wished the injured people speedy recovery, Radio Pakistan reported.

India accuses Pakistan of arming and training Kashmir’s insurgents, a charge Islamabad denies, and the attack was viewed by many in India as an attempt to unravel recent progress in the country’s relationship with its archrival.

In July, gunmen staged a similar attack at a police station and a moving bus near Gurdaspur, a border town in India’s Punjab state.

In the past, the contentious issue of Kashmir has halted talks between the rivals.