Pathankot on Red Alert as Search for ‘Armed Men’ Continues

Search ops have been carried out by security forces in Pathankot virtually every month after the 2 January attack.

File photo of soldiers standing guard near the Indian Air Force (IAF) base at Pathankot. (Photo: Reuters)

As the Pathankot district in Punjab continued to be on red alert, security agencies carried out a night-long search operation to look for some armed men seen by local residents, police said on Wednesday.

We carried out a search operation along the Chakki river bank and nearby forest areas. However, nothing has been found so far. The search operation started on Tuesday and was carried out through the night.

Rakesh Kaushal, District Police Chief, Pathankot

An extensive search operation began in Pathankot on Tuesday following reports that some local residents had spotted four armed “suspicious men”.

The area searched lies close to the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh-Jammu & Kashmir border.

However, no arrests were made, police officials said.

Search operations have been carried out by security forces in Pathankot and Gurdaspur districts virtually every month after the 2 January attack this year.

Terrorists, suspected to be from Pakistan, had attacked the frontier Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Pathankot in January, leaving seven security personnel dead.

The attack was preceded by a terror assault by Pakistani terrorists in Dinanagar town of neighbouring Gurdaspur district on 27 July last year.

(With inputs from IANS)