GURDASPUR: Three militants, disguised in Army fatigue and suspected to be members of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba, a Superintendent of Police, three Home Guard personnel and as many civilians have been killed after a group of gunmen attacked a police station in Gurdaspur early Monday morning. The incident has been reported in Dinanagar town close to the border with Pakistan. The gunmen were dressed in Army uniforms.
“Mission accomplished” was the message flashed by the police’s SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) team, comprising highly trained commandos, to DGP Sumedh Singh Saini around 4.45 pm when the operation ended.
Baljeet Singh, a Punjab Police SP (Detective) was killed in the attack after a bullet pierced his forehead. Four heavily armed terrorists wearing army uniform went on a rampage attacking a bus and a police station complex.
The terrorists struck a moving bus at Dinanagar area at 5 AM, spraying bullets at passengers, injuring four. The assailants then targeted a health centre followed by a building where the families of police personnel reside and hurled grenades before entering the police station.
They then opened fire on the bus before targeting a community health centre adjacent to Dinanagar police station, killing three civilians including a woman and a policeman.
The gunmen then entered the Dinanagar police station and opened fire in which five policemen were seriously injured.
The militants also targeted another part of the complex where the families of police personnel reside.
Local resident Kamaljeet Singh Matharu, who said that the assailants had snatched his car after firing at him, said they were dressed in army uniform and were heavily armed.
In a related development, five live bombs were found on Amritsar-Pathankot railway track and the train services on the route have been suspended.
The Home Ministry said that an alert has been sounded along the border with Pakistan. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval about the situation.
Army was called in from Pathankot and the whole area has been cordoned off. Quick Reaction Teams, bomb squads and a heavy police contingent including senior officers have been deployed in the area which lies close to the Indo-Pakistan border.
Two army helicopters were also pressed into operation.
Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh said there have been reports earlier also of infiltration from Pakistan and “cross-border mischief” in this “vulnerable” zone.
Among the killed civilians was a patient who tried to peep from a window of his second floor room at a private hospital adjacent to the police station to see what was happening downstairs.
The attack is being seen as a fallout of intelligence failure. The Punjab Police may have been patting itself on the back for flushing out the terrorists, but senior officers admit the incident could have been averted had the police acted on inputs received over the past few weeks. Sources said the issue of a possible terrorist strike in the region ahead of Independence Day had come up for discussion at a recent high-level meeting in Dalhousie, attended by police officers from Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and J&K.
Entered via Bamiyal sector
A top police officer said the militants had infiltrated from Pakistan through Bamiyal sector. The nearest point on the international border is merely 20 km from Dinanagar bus stand.
Planned hostage drama The militants are learnt to have planned to take some Amarnath pilgrims hostage from Dinanagar. But they changed their plan at the last minute and targeted the police station, said sources.
Source: TNS
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