Heavily armed men dressed in military fatigues stormed a police station yesterday in India’s northern frontier state of Punjab close to the border with Pakistan, killing six people and wounding several others.
Armed police exchanged fire with the attackers, who remained holed up in the police station in the Gurdaspur district 10 hours after the assault began at about 5am, officials said.
There was a lull in shooting by early afternoon, a Reuters witness said, after security forces in red and black turbans surrounded the building in the town of Dinanagar, about 15km from the international border.
Soldiers were also deployed, at least one of them armed with a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher.
“We have been able to limit (the attack). They are surrounded, they are holed up in the police station. We are on top of the situation,” said Harcharan Bains, an adviser to Punjab’s chief minister.
A local police chief was among those killed.
Police sources said the attackers entered India from Pakistan two days ago in the troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir, a short distance to the north.
Jitendra Singh, a junior minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office, said he did not rule out Pakistan’s involvement.
“There have also been earlier reports of Pakistan infiltration and cross-border mischief in this area,” said Singh, whose constituency in the Jammu region borders Gurdaspur.
Attacks on security installations by militants dressed as soldiers or police are common in Jammu, but yesterday’s was the first such assault in Punjab in 13 years, according to data from the South Asia Terrorism Portal, which tracks militant violence.
Pakistan has denied any involvement in insurgencies in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, and Islamabad’s foreign office said it was not aware of any reports that the people involved in yesterday’s attack were Pakistani.
India’s Federal Home Minister Rajnath Singh said he had spoken to the head of India’s Border Security Force and “instructed him to step up the vigil” on the border.
“The situation is under control,” Singh told reporters.
Five bombs were also found on a railway track in the state, in a possible sign of an attempted coordinated attack.
The dead included four civilians and two policemen, said HS Dhillon, a senior Punjab police officer. Some others were wounded, he said.
A suspected militant was also killed, but his body had not yet been recovered, according to another official.
The group of about five attackers came in a white Maruti-Suzuki car, dressed in army uniforms, said Bains.
The attackers took the vehicle at gunpoint from a roadside restaurant, another local politician told Reuters.
TV footage showed the car with its windshield peppered with bullet holes, and broken glass and bullet casings on the passenger seat. What appeared to be improvised explosive devices on railway tracks were also shown.
Six die as gunmen storm India border police station
Armed police exchanged fire with the attackers, who remained holed up in the police station in the Gurdaspur district 10 hours after the assault began at about 5am, officials said.
There was a lull in shooting by early afternoon, a Reuters witness said, after security forces in red and black turbans surrounded the building in the town of Dinanagar, about 15km from the international border.
Soldiers were also deployed, at least one of them armed with a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher.
“We have been able to limit (the attack). They are surrounded, they are holed up in the police station. We are on top of the situation,” said Harcharan Bains, an adviser to Punjab’s chief minister.
A local police chief was among those killed.
Police sources said the attackers entered India from Pakistan two days ago in the troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir, a short distance to the north.
Jitendra Singh, a junior minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office, said he did not rule out Pakistan’s involvement.
“There have also been earlier reports of Pakistan infiltration and cross-border mischief in this area,” said Singh, whose constituency in the Jammu region borders Gurdaspur.
Attacks on security installations by militants dressed as soldiers or police are common in Jammu, but yesterday’s was the first such assault in Punjab in 13 years, according to data from the South Asia Terrorism Portal, which tracks militant violence.
Pakistan has denied any involvement in insurgencies in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, and Islamabad’s foreign office said it was not aware of any reports that the people involved in yesterday’s attack were Pakistani.
India’s Federal Home Minister Rajnath Singh said he had spoken to the head of India’s Border Security Force and “instructed him to step up the vigil” on the border.
“The situation is under control,” Singh told reporters.
Five bombs were also found on a railway track in the state, in a possible sign of an attempted coordinated attack.
The dead included four civilians and two policemen, said HS Dhillon, a senior Punjab police officer. Some others were wounded, he said.
A suspected militant was also killed, but his body had not yet been recovered, according to another official.
The group of about five attackers came in a white Maruti-Suzuki car, dressed in army uniforms, said Bains.
The attackers took the vehicle at gunpoint from a roadside restaurant, another local politician told Reuters.
TV footage showed the car with its windshield peppered with bullet holes, and broken glass and bullet casings on the passenger seat. What appeared to be improvised explosive devices on railway tracks were also shown.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos