Three Indian Air Force Personnel were killed after gunmen stormed Air base in Pathankot District of Punjab. All the four gunmen were neutralized during a four hour long gun battle.Reports said that National Security Guards killed four militants at an air force base after a four-hour siege. Three Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel were killed in the gunfight.Gunshots rang out of the facility around 3:30am as a group of four-five men in army fatigue launched the daring operation less than 24 hours after an alarm was sounded in the state over the assault of a top police officer by suspected militants.“The gun battle between the militants and security forces ended by 8am on Saturday,” HS Dhillon, additional director general (law and order) of Punjab Police told reporters.A police official told reporters that a team of 50 commandos of the National Security Guard (NSG) led the fight against the militants in Pathankot. The NSG commandos were flown to Pathankot on Friday night in view of a security threat after the abduction and thrashing of Gurdaspur SP (headquarters) Salwinder Singh by militants, who dodged security forces and escaped.
As police cordoned off the area army and air force personnel swung into action alongside the NSG forces. “During the hour hour long operation, all the four militants were killed.” Top security officials, including National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, held a meeting in New Delhi in the aftermath of Saturday’s attack, media reports said.Punjab was put on maximum alert while security measures were also tightened in neighbouring Haryana, the common capital of the two states - Chandigarh, and national capital Delhi.Pakistan is our neighbour and we want peace, but any terrorist attack on India will get a befitting response,” home minister Rajnath Singh said. Meanwhile, SD Goswami, Defence Spokesperson Ministry of Defence in a statement to CNS said that, “Intelligence inputs had been available of a likely attempt by terrorists to infiltrate into the military installation in Pathankot area. In response, preparatory actions had been taken by the Indian Air Force (IAF) to thwart any such attempt.”
“Due to the effective preparation and coordinated efforts by all the security agencies a group of terrorists were detected by the aerial surveillance platforms as soon as they entered the Air Force Station at Pathankot. The infiltrators were immediately engaged and contained within a limited area, thus preventing them from entering the Technical zone where high value assets are parked.” “Through timely and prompt action by all agencies, the likely plan of the terrorists to destroy valuable assets of the Air Force has been foiled. Currently the operation is going on. The Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Western Air Command is on location and personally supervising and coordinating with the Army, NSG and local civil police for exchange of information and operational activity.” (CNS)