AMN /
Suspected Pakistani militants attacked an Air Force Base at Pathankot in Punjab in wee hour today. A top security official said, four attackers were killed in the ensuing encounter. Two IAF personnel were also killed and 6 security men injured. At least four to five militants, believed to be from the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist group, in army uniform launched the attack in the wee hours with an aim of destroying the air base. A Defence spokesman said, the militants attacked Air Force base at 3:30 AM this morning.
Police said, the attack was launched soon after a combing operation was carried out by the army yesterday in the area between Air base installation and Chakki river. The attackers were met with strong resistance from the security personnel who were already alert to the possibility of an attack. The terrorists therefore could not enter the air base and managed to reach only to the langer area on the outside. Authorities said that the helicopters and other equipment at the Air base are safe.
According to AIR, Helicopters, NSG commandos and SWAT teams were engaged to kill the militants. The terrorists, with huge quantity of RDX in their possession, made their way to air force base from back side where there is a jungle. After the incident, the combing operation has been launched in the border areas of Pathankot and Gurdaspur districts. The intelligence agencies had alerted about a possible terror attack in the area. It is the second big terror attack in Punjab within a year after three militants stormed a police station in Dina Nagar in Gurdaspur district before being eliminated after an encounter in July.
Yesterday Security forces were put on high alert in Pathankot in Punjab’s frontier district Gurdaspur on Friday after a senior police officer claimed he and his associates were abducted by five suspected militants in army fatigues.
Salwinder Singh, a superintendent of police, said he and his associates were going in his multi-utility vehicle to a religious shrine on Thursday night when they were signalled to stop by the five men.
The incident took place near Dinanagar town, where three terrorists from Pakistan launched an attack in July last year, some 280 km from Chandigarh.
Punjab Police called an emergency meeting soon after the incident. Sources in the police said an alert had been sounded in the area around the spot of the claimed abduction. The area — not far from the Pakistan border and adjoins Jammu and Kashmir — is currently being searched.
Intelligence agencies were also trying to verify the claims and another in which the body of an Innova driver was found in a nearby area, the sources said.
The officer was being questioned by intelligence agencies and other police officers.
Talwinder Singh told the police that the five men forcibly got into his vehicle and started beating him and his two companions.
He claimed that one of the men took charge of the vehicle, which had a blue beacon on its roof, and drove towards Pathankot. After some distance, the officer was pushed out of the vehicle.