“The search and combing operations continued through the night and more terrorists were engaged on Sunday morning. The gunbattle is still on,” said Air Officer Commanding (AOC), Pathankot base, JS Dhamoon. The strike — carried out by terrorists who reportedly had assault rifles, grenades, explosive jackets and GPS sets — is believed to have been an attempt to undo the recent bonhomie in India-Pakistan ties. Investigators earlier believed the terrorists overpowered Punjab’s superintendent of police Salwinder Singh early on Friday and used his vehicle to reach the Indian Air Force base. But as Singh reported only four militants, police now suspect another vehicle was involved.

Counter-terror sources also pointed out intercepts that reportedly spoke about a group of six terrorists infiltrating India. They also said all the phone calls made by the terrorists to Pakistan were on numbers known to belong to the JeM. Throughout the day, military trucks were seen entering and exiting the walled compound, including a demining vehicle. Dozens of security guards continued their vigil while protesters shouted slogans and burned a Pakistani flag nearby. Inside, Lt Col Niranjan, a member of the NSG’s bomb disposal squad, died after he succumbed to injuries sustained while trying to retrieve a live grenade from the body of a terrorist as part of the combing operation. The setbacks saw many questioning the government’s handling of the crisis, including the quality of intelligence and planning of the response to the attack. Critics asked why it took authorities over 12 hours to probe a terror angle in the snatching of Singh’s car and the supposed lax monitoring of the international boundary.