By Unni Krishnan and Kartik Goyal
Pathankot: A group of gunmen stormed an air-force base in northern India in a pre-dawn raid on Saturday, prompting a shootout with security forces that left at least six people dead and a vow by the central government to respond to the attack.
At least five gunmen entered the site at Pathankot in the northern state of Punjab at about 3 am local time, according to Ashwani Kumar, superintendent of the Punjab police. Four of the gunmen were killed by security forces while two air-force personnel died and six were injured, Kumar said by phone on Saturday. Operations are ongoing, he said.
The attack in Punjab comes a week after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprise visit to Pakistan in a bid to accelerate peace talks between the nuclear-armed neighbors. The Press Trust of India reported on Saturday that the Pathankot attackers had dressed in army uniforms and were suspected to be from Pakistani terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed, citing a security official it didn’t identify.
“We want good and friendly relations with Pakistan, and not just with them but with all our neighbors,” Home Minister Rajnath Singh said in comments broadcast by local television stations on Saturday. “We will give a befitting reply to any terrorist attack on our soil.” Singh’s remarks didn’t contain an estimate of the death toll from the incident, nor did he say who was allegedly responsible for the attack.
Get near
The planes and helicopters at the base are not at risk as the gunmen could not get near the air-operations side of the airport, Superintendent Kumar said. The base houses jet fighters and attack helicopters, according to NDTV news channel.
Last year, India blamed Pakistan for an incident in July in which six people were killed in Punjab as four gunmen dressed in army uniforms attacked a bus station and police complex. The attack on Saturday happened even as Punjab was placed on a state of high alert on Friday after suspected Pakistani terrorists kidnapped a senior police officer, the Press Trust of India reported, citing Senior Superintendent R. K. Bakshi.
India and Pakistan have tried to minimize tensions since an attack in Mumbai in 2008, when gunmen assaulted two luxury hotels, the main railway station, a cafe and a Jewish center, killing more than 160 people. India, which said that incident was orchestrated in Pakistan, has accused its neighbor of using terrorism to achieve foreign-policy goals, while the latter has said normal relations can be restored only when their dispute over the divided state of Kashmir is resolved.
Bloomberg
