After the end of the 100-hour-long combing operations in the Pathankot airbase, the border areas of Punjab have been put in a state of high alert with security forces looking for two suspicious men moving in Army uniform on Wednesday evening.
An alert has been sounded in Gurdaspur district of Punjab and a search operation launched after locals reported sighting of the two men moving in suspicious manner in Tibri Cantonment area, police sources said. learning the lessons from the Air Force base attack, a search operation was launched immediately, though it was not immediately known if more terrorists were at large.
Dina Nagar in Gurdaspur was attacked by Pakistani terrorists in July last year when a police station was the target.
Mediapersons were on Wednesday taken to the area where the six terrorists in Army fatigues were holed up and were later killed by security forces. While the bodies of two of the terrorists were charred beyond recognition, the security forces were treading cautiously in removing the bodies fearing that they could be booby-trapped.
In Chandigarh, Western Command Chief lt Gen KJ Singh said there was complete synergy among different agencies, which led to the success of the anti-terror operation against fidayeen who attacked the airbase. Addressing a news conference at the Chandimandir command headquarters, he said the role of the Army was vital in the entire operation.
“The first contact was by DSC and Garuds. The DSC fought bravely and one of them killed a terrorist but he was martyred by another terrorist. The second contact was by an Army column. Thereafter, the terrorists were localised and the NSG neutralised them. The third and final contact was gained by the Army. This was a joint operation by special forces, Garuds and NSG,” said lt Gen KJ Singh.
The Army commander criticised reports which suggested that it took 72 or 80 hours in neautralising the terrorists. “The total contact period was only 10-11 hours. You should use stop-watch method in this. In the rest of period, the terrorists remained dormant. We were trying to gain contact,” he said. lt-Gen Singh said the operation took time as it was a huge area and it had to be sanitised.
Giving details of the time taken, he said during the operation, two of the terrorists had entered a double storey structure and troops, who were on the first floor of the same building, had to be brought out safely. He said the probe into the attack by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) will trace the entire route and timing of the terrorists.
After registering cases, the NIA has started the investigations into the attack, the route which the terrorists took, the place from which they came from in Pakistan and is looking for specific Pakistani markings in the items which were discovered from the terrorist. Sources said this was to build a case in the international community with evidence of the links of the neighbouring country in facilitating the attack. Salwinder Singh, the SP, who was a prime witness and is now being looked up with suspicion was taken to all the places associated with the terror attack to recreate the crime scene.