Gurdaspur Superintendent of Police (Detective) and 11 others fell to the bullets in the 12-hour long gun battle between security forces and Pakistan-based militants who attacked Dinanagar police station around 5 am on Monday. Three militants were killed in the encounter, who were holed up in a vacant building adjacent to the police station.
More than two decades after the end of militancy in the State, the rattle of incessant gunfire brought back the memory of the sordid days as three heavily-armed militants in Army outfit stormed into Dinanagar police station after laying bombs on railway tracks, attacking passengers in a bus, spraying bullets on a nearby hospital, and shooting a driver in a carjacking attempt, claims sources.
The Punjab Police, which has emerged as heroes in the entire operation, braved the militants who were well-equipped with sophisticated automatic weapons, with the Army, including Special Forces, supporting them from a distance.
Sources said the terrorists, suspected to be Pakistan-based jehadis, entered Punjab around 3 am, but their original target was not Punjab but Amarnath Yatra.
Intelligence inputs suggested that the terrorists could have come from Narowal in Pakistan and made their way south after infiltrating from the Jammu-Samba area. They perhaps lost their way, sources believe.
The BJP-led Central Government and the SAD-led Punjab Government have indulged in blame game. While the Union Home Minister has maintained that the States, including Punjab, were alerted about possible attacks three days ago, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal denied it adding that if the Centre had intelligence inputs, it should have sealed the borders.
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal immediately instructed Director General of Police Sumedh Singh Saini, a veteran in the fight against terror, to personally visit the spot, and monitor the situation. Saini, assisted by ADGP-Intelligence HS Dhillon, led from the front and refused to hand over the operations to the Army. Special Forces of the Army and the NSG as well as Punjab Police commandos had taken up positions around Dinanagar police station, cordoning off the area. In what is being seen as a coordinated attack, the militants were killed after hours of intermittent exchange of fire between the two sides.
As per police sources, three terrorists, wearing Army uniforms and heavily armed, attempted to snatch a “tempo” early morning but did not succeed. later, they managed to snatch a white Maruti 800 car, bearing Punjab’s registration number, at a dhaba after shooting at the owner and injuring him. They also shot dead a roadside vendor near Dinanagar bypass.
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SP among 13 killed in terror attack
They then drove off and opened fire at Pathankot Depot bus (PB-06-G-9569), going from Bamial to Chandigarh, injuring three persons, and some passers-by at the spot.
Terrorists next entered Dinanagar police station and opened heavy fire, in which SHO Mukhtiar Singh, Head Constable Ram lal, and Home Guard Rajinder Kumar were injured. Two Home Guards jawans were also killed in the exchange of fire.
Indiscriminate fire by terrorists at the police station and adjoining Kiran Hospital, also killed two persons - Gulam Rasool and Asha Rani - undergoing treatment in the hospital.
During the operations, Punjab Police SP (Detective) Baljit Singh, posted at Gurdaspur, got martyred. Besides, three other policemen and three civilians - identified as Ghulam Rasool, Asha Rani and Amarjit Singh - were shot dead. The bodies of two Home Guards could be seen on the rooftop of the police station.
The 18 injured included four policemen. Dinanagar police station SHO Mukhtiar Singh was among them.
Unlike the counter-offensive in adjoining Jammu & Kashmir where security forces blow up a building where terrorists are holed up, security agencies here decided to play a waiting game to engage the terrorists after securing most of the area where the encounter took place.
The civilians and the police personnel broke into celebration after successful operation. In jubilations, the local residents were seen congratulating the police personnel and shouting slogans. RAIl TRAGEDY FORESTAllED: In a related development, five live bombs were found on Amritsar-Pathankot railway track. Forestalling what could be a major rail tragedy, the train, which was to pass over the track, was stopped just 200 metres from the spot where the bombs had been planted.
The bombs were found by the passers-by on a bridge near Parmanand railway station in the morning on the Amritsar-Pathankot railway section, who informed the security forces. Trains on the route were stopped immediately.
A major railway tragedy was averted as the bombs had been carefully wired to the railway track at a small bridge near Parmanand railway station, five kms from Dinanagar. A police spokesperson told the media that the army bomb disposal unit had defused the bombs.
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