New Delhi

The four heavily-armed Pakistani terrorists, who carried out the suicide attack on the key Pathankot IAF base in Punjab, are believed to have infiltrated into India during the intervening night of December 30-31 from a spot near Bamiyal village in Pathankot, located close to the international border.

The terrorists, official sources said, crossed over near Shakargarh in Pakistan to Bamiyal village and later changed into Army fatigues before kidnapping Salwinder Singh, a Superintendent of Police-rank officer, who was shunted out from Gurdaspur to take charge as Assistant Commandant of 75th battalion of Punjab Armed Police, at Kolian village.

There were three occupants in the vehicle when it was hijacked by four militants which included Singh’s jeweller friend Rajesh Verma and the driver.

While the terrorists slit the throat of other two, the police officer, who is facing charges of alleged breach of discipline, was released later and the vehicle was abandoned at Tajpur village, a place which is 2 km from the IAF’s Pathankot air base.

One of the militants is alleged to have used the phone of the jeweller, who is undergoing treatment in a hospital, to make a call to Bhawalpur in Pakistan which was intercepted by intelligence agencies.

After the day-long operation today, all the four terrorists, suspected to be from Jaish-e-Mohammed terror outfit, were eliminated by the joint team of police, army and NSG.

The area from where the terrorists crossed over has a thick foliage of elephant grass which provides an automatic cover for them, they said.

A tributary of river Beas enters into Pakistan from this village and this route is quite famous for drug smugglers to enter India.

Parrikar meets NSA, service chiefs

New Delhi

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today chaired a high-level meeting during which he was briefed in detail by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on the terror attack at an Air Force base in Pathankot.

The meeting was also attended by all the three Service chiefs and the Defence Secretary.

The meeting lasted for about 90 minutes during which Parrikar was given a detailed overview about the intelligence received and the action taken by the security forces to thwart the attack by the group of terrorists, suspected to be belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit.

Sacked IAF officer to be quizzed for Pathankot attack

New Delhi

A sacked IAF official, arrested for allegedly sharing secret information with Pakistan’s ISI, will be interrogated in connection with today’s Pathankot terror attack, investigators told a city court which extended his police custody till Monday.

Ranjith KK, a Leading Aircraftman with Indian Air Force posted at Bhatinda, was dismissed recently and later arrested after a combined operation by Delhi Police’s Crime Branch, Military Intelligence and Air Force Liaisoning Unit (LU).

The sacked officer’s police custody was extended by two more days

by Metropolitan Magistrate Dheeraj Mittal who accepted the submissions of the police which wanted his custody to be extended so that they can further interrogate him.

“In view of the allegation and the reasons thereof, the application is allowed. Police remand of the accused is extended till January 4,” the magistrate said.

Booked under the stringent Official Secrets Act, Ranjith KK had allegedly shared secret information with intelligence operatives suspected to be backed by Pakistan’s ISI after being “honeytrapped” into an espionage racket.

A Crime Branch official informed the court that “revelations” made by the accused need to be ascertained and he needs to be also interrogated in connection with the Pathankot attack and terror espionage.

The investigators’ submissions came after the magistrate asked the police whether any disclosure and recovery have been made during the earlier four-day remand.

IO S S Sandhu said that some “revelations” were made by Ranjith and police suspect that they could be a connection with the Pathankot attack, in which a group of heavily-armed Pakistani terrorists, suspected to be belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit, struck at an Air Force base, killing three security personnel.

Police had earlier said that in this case, Ranjith was deceived by a cyber entity by the name Damini McNaught, who pretended to be an executive of a UK-based media firm and claimed that she required Air Force-related information for an article in their news magazine from Ranjith in exchange for pecuniary benefits.

Pakistan condemns Pathankot attack

Islamabad

Pakistan today condemned the terror strike at an Air Force base in Pathankot by heavily- armed Pakistani terrorists and asserted that building on the goodwill created during the recent high level contacts, it remained committed to partner India in tackling terrorism.

“Pakistan condemns the terrorist incident in Pathankot, India, today, in which many precious lives have been lost. We extend heartfelt condolences to the government and people of India and the bereaved families and wish the wounded speedy and full recovery,” a Pakistan Foreign Office statement said.

The attack by terrorists, suspected to belong to Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit, took place at around 3.30 AM and three security personnel, including a Garud commando of the IAF, were killed in it. Four terrorists were also killed by the security forces.

“Building on the goodwill created during the recent high level contacts between the two countries, Pakistan remains committed to partner with India as well as other countries in the region to completely eradicate the menace of terrorism afflicting our region,” the Foreign Office statement said.

The attack came just a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an unscheduled visit to Pakistan and met Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif with an aim of improving ties and also ahead of the talks between the foreign secretaries of the two countries here on January 15.

PTI