Four terrorists in army uniform, believed to be from Pakistan, who sneaked in to Gurudaspur district in Punjab on Monday morning, are currently holed up in a police station in Dinanagar. Operations are underway to neutralise them.
The terrorists attacked a bus and a health centre before taking cover in the police station killing six people, including a Superintendent of Police and two constables.
Punjab Police have taken over the operations and the Army is on standby for any contingency and is also holding the cordon around the area.
Earlier, defence officials said Army columns have been mobilised from Pathankot and Gurdaspur to cordon the area and Special Forces troops too have been called to the location.
The terrorists, earlier in the day, made an attempt to get hold of a tempo vehicle near the bus station in Dinanagar. But after failing to do so, they hijacked a Maruti 800 after injuring the owner. They later fired on the police station in Dinanagar and exchanged fire with security forces before taking refuge in the station.
Bombs found in railway track
Meanwhile, five pressure bombs were found on the railway track over a bridge on the Dinanagar and Zkulari line with the target to blow up a passenger train. The bombs were seen by railway patrol van at 5:50 am and a major tragedy was averted.
A senior official said that Army is currently overseeing bomb disposal of explosives on the track.
Intelligence had warned of a possible attack
Sources said that intelligence inputs on July 24 had warned that 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists headed by commander Maqbool Khan were trying to infiltrate from Dudhiniyal, Jammu, to carry out attacks in India on August 15 or before, with the help of Pakistan Rangers and that Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is coordinating the efforts.
The Home Ministry sounded an alert along the Pakistan border following the incident.
With the Parliament’s Monsoon Session underway, security has been beefed up around the Parliament as a precaution.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh reviewed the situation and spoke to Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. Mr. Singh is expected to make a statement in Parliament once the operations are over.
Mr. Badal said it is the Centre’s responsibility to prevent attacks. "The terrorists didn't come from Punjab, they came from border. It's the Centre's job to seal the border," he said.
(This article was first published in The Hindu online edition)