Militant attack on Indian base likely a bid to restart tensions with Pakistan

PATHANKOT, INDIA — Suspected militants infiltrated an Indian air force base near the border with Pakistan Saturday and exchanged fire with security forces for hours, leaving at least four gunmen and two Indian troops dead, officials and news reports said.

Although it was unclear who staged the attack, it was being seen as a likely attempt to undo recent progress made in relations between archrivals India and Pakistan, coming just a week after the first visit to Pakistan in 12 years by an Indian prime minister.

The attack at the Pathankot air force base in Punjab state began before dawn and by late morning, it appeared the violence had ended with the killing of the gunmen by Indian forces.

But two hours later, more gunfire erupted and an air force helicopter was seen firing at the base, a major installation located about 430 kilometres north of New Delhi.

Air force spokesperson Rochelle D’Silva said troops were combing the base to fully secure it. She said the combing operation was expected to continue through the night and the full number of casualties would be clear once the base was completely secured.

By 9 p.m. local time, no gunfire had been heard for more than three hours.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an unannounced visit to Pakistan Dec. 25 to meet with his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif. The visit was seen as a potential sign of thawing relations between the two nucleararmed neighbours. The leaders also held an unscheduled meeting at the Paris climate change talks last month.

Ahead of Modi’s visit to Pakistan, the national security advisers of both countries had met in Thailand. The foreign secretaries of both nations are scheduled to meet in Islamabad later this month.

The Indian defence ministry said there had been intelligence reports about a likely terror attack on military installations in Pathankot, and the air force had been prepared to thwart any attackers.