Suspected Pakistani terrorists on Saturday attacked an Air Force Base here in Punjab, triggering an encounter in which four attackers and three defence personnel were killed and 5 security men were injured.
The terrorists, who carried out the attack in Pathankot, were in regular touch with their
Pakistani handlers, who even arranged a taxi for them by calling from a mobile number of that country.
Sources said the terrorists had first used a Toyota Innova vehicle yesterday and it has been found that the driver was called from a Pakistan number.
Security agencies are questioning the driver and trying to find out whether he (driver) had been offering regular services to Pakistan-based smugglers, who have links with the terrorists, or was it a case of him not realising that it was a Pakistan number.
The driver of the Innova was called to a particular spot near Pathankot where the terrorists boarded the vehicle.
The sources said that the car was used for travelling on an untarred road and dumped after a while as the rim of the vehicle got damaged.
The terrorist then hijacked an SUV (Mahindra SUV X500) in which a Superintendent of Punjab Police was travelling along with a friend and a cook.
The SP and the cook were forced to leave the vehicle while the friend, a jeweller, was taken as hostage.
The terrorists snatched a mobile phone from them and used it to dial the number in Pakistan which was used to call the driver of the Toyota Innova. From this number, they had called
their handlers thrice and once to a family member who was told that they were on a suicide mission.
Security agencies have found that from the Pakistani mobile number, the handlers were actively giving the directions to the terrorists.
Since the Pakistani number was under surveillance, security agencies were able to find out the possible target of the terrorists, leading to dispatching of 160 NSG commandos,
army special forces besides others.
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 top security official said.
A group of militants attacked Air Force base at 3:30 AM this morning, a Defence spokesman 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, police said.
The attackers were met with strong resistance from the security personnel who were already alert to the possibility of an attack, top sources said in Delhi, adding that the terrorists therefore could not enter the air base and managed to reach only to the langer area on the outside.
SSP R K Bakshi said that four suspected militants were killed in the battle.
Two jawans were also martyred and six sustained injuries.
Security establishment was already on alert and anticipating an attack after an SP of Punjab police was abducted by a group of armed men in army uniform on Thursday night. The attackers thrashed the officer before dumping him from vehicle.
After the incident, the combing operation was launched in the border areas of Pathankot and Gurdaspur district.
The attackers are confined to non-operational area, police said.
Helicopters, NSG commandos and SWAT teams have been engaged to kill the militants, police said.
The encounter started at 3.30 am, police said.
The strike is believed to be launched by Jaish-e-Mohammad, officials said, adding that the target was to destroy military installations.