Attacking airbase Indian Air Force
Four militants and two guards were killed when unidentified militants attacked a base of the Indian Air Force near the border with Pakistan.
Officials said that the gunmen, who wore military clothes, managed to enter the Pathankot air base in the northwestern province of Punjab before dawn. Once found inside the base opened fire indiscriminately.
Earlier they had stolen a police car had arrived and with it the strictly guarded base - tactic that has been used in previous attacks allegedly carried fighters trained in Pakistan, told Reuters police chief of Punjab, Shura Apop.
The death of four and two armed guards has been confirmed, according to official Interior Ministry.
Sporadic gunfire and helicopters over the site even sounded as was being thorough undertaking research for identifying and other armed, police said. At present there is no assumption of responsibility for the attack.
The attack occurred one week after an unscheduled visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the effort of reviving bilateral talks were discontinued because of attacks by militants.
"Once Monti set foot in Lahore (and possibly even before), something like this was bound to happen," said Michael Kougkelman, an expert on South Asia at the Wilson Center think tank in Washington.
"At this point, there is sufficient good will in India-Pakistan relations to cope with this attack. The saboteurs will not win this time," he said.
The Indian Interior Minister Ratznath Singh told ANI, associated with Reuters: "Pakistan is our neighbor and we want peace, but any terrorist attack in India will receive the appropriate response."
His comments were interpreted by Indian analysts as a sign of restraint and willpower in New Delhi to resume talks with Pakistan.
PYRINES defunct
Television footage showed armed guards outside the highly fortified air base, which is located 50 km. From the border with Pakistan. The police stepped up checks on vehicles in the area.
Indian security officials said that according to initial estimates, the attack can be unleashed by Jai e-Mohammed or Army of Mohammed, a militant organization based in Pakistan calling for the independence of Kashmir.
"The Punjab is also a corridor for smuggling drugs and realize now that many dormant cores can be enabled in the Punjab," said a defense ministry source who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The raid is reminiscent of the offensive launched in July gunmen in uniforms in the police outpost in a border town of Punjab, which resulted in nine people were killed.
But today's attack seems to be much bolder as targeted a large military establishment from which flies a fleet of Russian-made MiG-21 fighters and attack helicopters Mi-35 India.
The province of Punjab and the neighboring Jammu put on high alert and all bases are sealed.
"The attack on an air base is a serious security threat. The new strategy of the terrorists is to identify bases near the border and launch attacks," the official said the Interior Ministry.
Security experts say the strict security measures along the disputed border crossing Kashmir has shifted the focus of activity of militants more south to more vulnerable targets in the Punjab province of India.
India and Pakistan have fought twice over Kashmir since independence and their separation in 1947. The region, the majority of whose inhabitants are Muslims, remains sticking point and just recently India agreed to talk about it after months fruitless efforts to restart negotiations.
"We have seen the same thing happening again and again, when efforts are being made to resume the peacekeeping dialogue," said Atzai Sachni, executive director of the Institute for Conflict Management in New Delhi.
"It can lead to a transient interruption of peace talks and to attacks from the opposition that it followed a tougher line, but I do not think that will have long copy," he said.
Four militants and two guards were killed when unidentified militants attacked a base of the Indian Air Force near the border with Pakistan.
Officials said that the gunmen, who wore military clothes, managed to enter the Pathankot air base in the northwestern province of Punjab before dawn. Once found inside the base opened fire indiscriminately.
Earlier they had stolen a police car had arrived and with it the strictly guarded base - tactic that has been used in previous attacks allegedly carried fighters trained in Pakistan, told Reuters police chief of Punjab, Shura Apop.
The death of four and two armed guards has been confirmed, according to official Interior Ministry.
Sporadic gunfire and helicopters over the site even sounded as was being thorough undertaking research for identifying and other armed, police said. At present there is no assumption of responsibility for the attack.
The attack occurred one week after an unscheduled visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the effort of reviving bilateral talks were discontinued because of attacks by militants.
"Once Monti set foot in Lahore (and possibly even before), something like this was bound to happen," said Michael Kougkelman, an expert on South Asia at the Wilson Center think tank in Washington.
"At this point, there is sufficient good will in India-Pakistan relations to cope with this attack. The saboteurs will not win this time," he said.
The Indian Interior Minister Ratznath Singh told ANI, associated with Reuters: "Pakistan is our neighbor and we want peace, but any terrorist attack in India will receive the appropriate response."
His comments were interpreted by Indian analysts as a sign of restraint and willpower in New Delhi to resume talks with Pakistan.
PYRINES defunct
Television footage showed armed guards outside the highly fortified air base, which is located 50 km. From the border with Pakistan. The police stepped up checks on vehicles in the area.
Indian security officials said that according to initial estimates, the attack can be unleashed by Jai e-Mohammed or Army of Mohammed, a militant organization based in Pakistan calling for the independence of Kashmir.
"The Punjab is also a corridor for smuggling drugs and realize now that many dormant cores can be enabled in the Punjab," said a defense ministry source who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The raid is reminiscent of the offensive launched in July gunmen in uniforms in the police outpost in a border town of Punjab, which resulted in nine people were killed.
But today's attack seems to be much bolder as targeted a large military establishment from which flies a fleet of Russian-made MiG-21 fighters and attack helicopters Mi-35 India.
The province of Punjab and the neighboring Jammu put on high alert and all bases are sealed.
"The attack on an air base is a serious security threat. The new strategy of the terrorists is to identify bases near the border and launch attacks," the official said the Interior Ministry.
Security experts say the strict security measures along the disputed border crossing Kashmir has shifted the focus of activity of militants more south to more vulnerable targets in the Punjab province of India.
India and Pakistan have fought twice over Kashmir since independence and their separation in 1947. The region, the majority of whose inhabitants are Muslims, remains sticking point and just recently India agreed to talk about it after months fruitless efforts to restart negotiations.
"We have seen the same thing happening again and again, when efforts are being made to resume the peacekeeping dialogue," said Atzai Sachni, executive director of the Institute for Conflict Management in New Delhi.
"It can lead to a transient interruption of peace talks and to attacks from the opposition that it followed a tougher line, but I do not think that will have long copy," he said.
