PATHANKOT AIRBASE ATTACK Three securitymen die in pre-dawn strike; five Jaish militants gunned down 15-HOUR OPERATION Infiltrators in army fatigues entered via Bamiyal area along India-Pakistan border HIGH-VALUE TARGET IAF aircraft had been shifted as pre
PATHANKOT: Indian security forces killed five Pakistani terrorists who launched a pre-dawn attack on Saturday on a strategic air force base in Punjab’s Pathankot district, setting off a fierce 15-hour operation that also left three security personnel dead and about a dozen injured.
AP PHOTOSoldiers on the rooftop of a building outside the air force base in Pathankot on Saturday.
The attack on the airbase, which is home to a large fleet of MiG-21 and MiG-25 fighter planes, was seen as an attempt to undo recent progress in India’s relationship with Pakistan. It came barely a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an unannounced visit to Lahore to meet with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in a sign of possible thawing of relations between the two countries.
Two of the slain security personnel were from the Defence Security Corps, including Commonwealth championship gold medal-winning shooter Fateh Singh, besides an airman whose identity was not given.
“Enemies of humanity who can’t see India progress, such elements attacked in Pathankot but our security forces did not let them succeed,” Prime Minister Modi said in Mysuru.
Gunshots rocked the airbase around 3.30am on Saturday as a group of five men in army-style clothing — believed to be operatives of the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed — launched the daring operation less than 24 hours after an alert was sounded in the state over the abduction of Gurdaspur superintendent of police (SP) Salwinder Singh by suspected Pakistani terrorists.
Elite National Security Guard (NSG) commandos, army personnel and a SWAT team of the Punjab Police were rushed to the area following the abduction and assault on Salwinder and the interception of mobile phone calls made by the terrorists to their Pakistan-based handlers.
“From the moment the terrorists’ presence was confirmed on Friday, Punjab Police and central security agencies worked in tandem and rapidly mobilised all resources in real time. That’s what accounted for the success of the operation,” said Suresh Arora, Punjab director general of police (DGP).
Sources said 168 NSG commandos led by Major General Dushyant Singh were flown in from Delhi on Friday night.
Though the terrorists still managed to storm the base, they were unable to penetrate the area where the fighter aircraft, helicopters and other military equipment were kept, said IAF spokeswoman Rochelle D’Silva. The entire area turned into a virtual war zone as gunshots rang continuously while helicopter gunships provided air cover in an operation closely monitored by national security adviser Ajit Doval.
Doval also attended a meeting later in the day with defence minister Manohar Parrikar who cut short his stay in Goa and returned to Delhi following the attack. The meeting was also attended by the three service chiefs.
Although police initially said the gunbattle ended by 8am, shots and explosions could be heard from inside the base until noon. At least one helicopter could be seen firing at an area inside the facility.
The bodies of four attackers were recovered from the scene while the body of a fifth was recovered in the evening outside the base, where security forces had launched a massive search operation.
Though there were conflicting reports about the presence of a sixth gunman, home minister Rajnath Singh said five had been killed till search operations were called off for the day.
A defence source said the terrorists were from JeM, a group blamed for the December 2001 attack on Parliament that killed 11 people, and had probably infiltrated about three days ago. Pathankot — located at the trijunction of Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh — is on a highway that connects insurgency-hit J&K with the rest of the country.
