Pathankot attack: Terrorists entered base Jan 1, cabbie who was killed got call from Pakistan, says official
The terrorists who struck at the airbase in Pathankot in the early hours of January 2 had most likely entered the defence installation during the afternoon of January 1 itself, security officials have told The Indian Express.
Punjab police, security forces and central intelligence agencies knew this on that day and had, therefore, prepared to pre-empt the attack by deploying men and material at the base beginning that afternoon, a top official here said. The state government had alerted New Delhi about the possible terror attack on Pathankot at around noon on January 1, saying that terrorists seemed to have infiltrated into Punjab. It was after the state’s alert, sources said, that National Security Adviser Ajit Doval called an emergency meeting and the National Security Guards (NSG) were sent to Punjab.
Investigations are also on into a possible local angle focusing on why taxi driver Ikagar Singh left his home late in the night after a phone call. Officials said a phone call from Pakistan was made to his number. He left home soon after this, telling his family members that he had received a phone call from a nearby village to take someone to the hospital. The person whose name Ikagar mentioned denied making the phone call.
Sources said the infiltrators were tracked to a thickly forested area inside the air-base around 3.30 pm on January 1 through mobile towers, as they were making phone calls to Pakistan from a local number, the official said. The number belonged to the Superintendent of Police whose vehicle the terrorists had snatched earlier that day, in the pre-dawn hours of January 1.
Several calls were made from that number to Pakistan through the day. The mobile tower areas from which the calls were made indicate the terrorists were already inside the air base, the official said.
“It was at around 3.30 pm on January 1, when the tower location pointed towards the forest area. The forest is known to be thick, lined with heaps of debris. Since we knew that the terrorists must be on a jihadi mission and would be certainly carrying lethal ammunition, it was not sensible to have started the combing operation when it was getting dark. We could not have risked the lives of our troops. Hence, we alerted everyone to ensure that the casualty is minimum,” said a top police source.
“We did not want to take any chances,” a police official said. “The foremost thing was to step up security of the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister, who were advised to stay put at a safe place. Later, at around 11 pm that night, we got the main doors of all the police stations in Pathankot shut. We wanted to pre-empt a repeat of Dina Nagar. A sentry each was posted at the entrance of each police station.” (On July 27, 2015, three gunmen in Army uniform fired on a bus and attacked the Dina Nagar police station in Gurdaspur killing three civilains anmd four policemen, including an SP).The Indian Air Force was alerted and the barracks and messes were vacated besides stepping up security at their vital installations, “We knew the jihadis would want to launch an attack by targeting maximum people in sleep. That is the reason they struck at 3 am. And we were fully prepared. The killings were not as many as they might have planned. We have averted a massive tragedy.”
He said the local police officers did not believe the Superintendent of Police, Salwinder Singh, when he complained to the Pathankot police about his abduction. “Even we, at the headquarters, went along with the local police officers. But around noon, after the questioning of the SP and his associates, there were more than one reason to set the alarm bells ringing. Hence, we alerted the centre. By 4.30 pm. the NSG had reached the airbase.”
By then the terrorists had reached the IAF base in Pathankot by successfully crossing the first line of defense manned by Defense Security Corps (DSC). Sources said the police are still in the dark about how the second group, likely comprising two terrorists, entered the IAF base.
“The jihadis are highly motivated and well-trained, they would have brought ammunition along in their backpacks. They would have used Google maps to reach their destination. But the possibility of their getting help from some locals cannot be ruled out. We are probing the possible links of terrorists with the smugglers active on both sides of the border, who could be their local handlers. Also, we are probing Ikagar, the driver who was murdered by terrorists since he got a call from Pakistan and it was only after that he got out of his house at midnight. He was the only one who was murdered and he was the only one who got a call from Pakistan. He was killed,” said the source.
Sources said police are also scrutinising the conduct Superintendent of Police Salwinder Singh in the run-up to his encounter with terrorists. A senior police officer said several of his statements do not add up, “We are left wondering what was he doing at that spot at that time of the night in his official car. That, too, without his own driver. Also, we need to answer a question as to how the jihadis left the SP without even injuring him while his associate was almost killed by slitting his neck. It was sheer providence that saved him.”
| Tuesday , January 5 , 2016 |
Building blown up in base, hunt for human remains |
| SUJAN DUTTA |
 Lt Col EK Niranjan’s father K Sivarajan and daughter Vismaya in Bangalore after the body of the officer, who died in Pathankot, was brought to the southern city on Monday. (PTI) "We are checking through the rubble slowly," an officer said this afternoon. "I can tell you some human remains have been found but we can't be certain if there were one or two terrorists in the building." In the evening, the National Security Guard's inspector-general (operations), Maj. Gen. Dushyant Singh, confirmed that "we have been able to eliminate a fifth terrorist". He said operations were still on. There is no confirmation whether there are more militants inside the base. The death of Lt Col E.K. Niranjan while examining the body of a militant on Saturday has forced a more gradual combing of the 1,600-acre air force station. Niranjan was killed in a grenade explosion. A militant had booby-trapped his own body before being killed. The sheer amount of firepower that multiple security forces have used in the Pathankot operation that is spilling into its fourth day shows how the course of the battle changed after the deaths of five men from the Defence Security Corps and an air force Garud commando. The security forces needed to use unmanned aerial vehicles, Mil Mi-35 helicopter gunships, mortars, machine guns and, finally, armoured vehicles to pin down the militants. This even after there was specific intelligence, as disclosed by the government, that the attackers had infiltrated the border and were after high-value targets in the Pathankot region. The sustained battle and the heavy casualties - including 20 wounded soldiers - have stirred questions whether the assessment of danger was off the mark. But the government has denied there was either an intelligence failure or a deficiency in coordinating operations. "These were well-trained terrorists and part of a suicide squad. When such kind of fidayeenattack takes place, it has the potential to cause huge damage. The complex is very big. The circumference of the airbase is 24km. Therefore, combing operations are also taking time," Arun Jaitley, the minister for information and broadcasting and finance, said in New Delhi after a meeting of the National Security Council. He said security forces had confined the attackers to the point at which they had entered the station. He said the militants had been kept away from the technical area where aircraft were parked and that the "process is on for two more bodies". That would take the number of militants killed to six though the operational commander has so far confirmed five bodies. Jaitley said "our security forces were completely successful" in ensuring that strategic assets were not damaged. "A lot has been learnt from 26/11. In the 2008 Mumbai assault, more than 180 people were killed. The terrorists were successful in severely denting us. However, this time, our reaction was prompt. The precautionary measures were taken in time. The militants were curtailed at an early stage," said the minister. Security establishment sources said that after the government received information about the militants on the morning of January 1, a general alert had been sounded at all installations in the Pathankot region. The air force station, with a 23km perimeter wall and five gates, stretches to National Highway 1A on one side. On another, it is hugged by a canal, the Barphani Nullah, that eventually flows into the base. The base is divided into domestic and technical areas. The domestic area houses living and administrative quarters. The technical area, apart from the runway, has hangars and workshops. Among the first troops to be called in were the 11 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles (JAKRIF), part of the Mamoon Brigade. They were tasked to protect the technical area. The 1 Para (special forces) were also called in. The JAKRIF men took position before the National Security Guard (NSG) unit from Manesar, near Delhi, reached Pathankot on the night of January 1-2. Initially, Brig. Anupinder Singh Belvi, commander of the Mamoon Brigade, was the task force commander. The responsibility was effectively vested on Maj. Gen. Dushyant Singh later. Although the major general is an army officer - indeed he commanded a division in Jammu neighbouring Pathankot before his current assignment - he is technically deputed to the home ministry that is the parent of the NSG. The overall responsibility for the security of the Pathankot Air Force Station rests with Air Commodore Jagmeet Singh Dhamoon who is the Air Officer Commanding (AOC) of the base.The preliminary suspicion is that one of two teams of militants had managed to sneak into the base through the canal and had taken up position before the full deployment of troops. The point at which the canal cuts into the compound of the base is barred with an iron grille. Sources in the army said that at first, two columns (of about 100 troops each) were deployed in the technical area. These men engaged the militants after they had attacked the DSC and the Garud on January 1 night. Subsequently, the army deployment was increased to six and then to eight columns. Last night, the militants began firing from a two-storey house that was the single (as opposed to married) airmen's quarters opposite the base canteen. By the time they had entered the building, the men had evacuated. It was this building that the BMPs - the infantry combat vehicles - aimed their cannons at. Indian leads: Pak Pakistan said late tonight that it was working on "leads" provided by India and extended the deepest condolences to the government and people of India on the "unfortunate terrorist incident". An Indian official confirmed that the government had shared details of telephone intercepts. A statement in Islamabad said: "We understand the pain of many families who have lost their dear ones in this tragedy as Pakistan itself is a major victim of terrorism." It added: "Living in the same region and with a common history the two countries should remain committed to a sustained dialogue process. The challenge of terrorism calls for strengthening our resolve to a cooperative approach." The statement came hours after uncertainty crept into the scheduled foreign secretary talks. |
Published: January 5, 2016 02:01 IST | Updated: January 5, 2016 02:03 IST New Delhi, January 5, 2016
‘Pathankot squad was more lethal than 26/11 attackers’
AP
The attack at the air base near the border with Pakistan began early Saturday morning and has dragged on as government troops struggle to contain the heavily armed attackers in the sprawling station.The modus operandi adopted by the terrorists speaks volumes about the precision training they received, says an Intelligence official
After initially refraining from blaming the country, a top government official said on Monday that the terrorists behind the Pathankot airbase attack appeared to have received training from a “professional armed force in Pakistan.” The fidayeen (suicide) squad was more lethal and better trained than the 26/11 Mumbai attackers. They had enough arms and ammunition, including under barrel grenade launchers, for a sustained operation of more than 60 hours against a professional army.
An Intelligence official told The Hindu that establishing the identity of the terrorists would be a challenge because Pakistan would certainly not own them up. Security forces inside the air base have found bodies of five terrorists. A sixth one was blown to pieces when the building he had taken refuge in was brought down with explosives on Monday. DNA samples would be preserved, he said.
A challenge
After the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, Pakistan had refused to accept the bodies of nine Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists killed by the security forces. The tenth terrorist, Ajmal Kasab, the only one to have been captured alive, was hanged in a Pune prison in 2013 and his body was buried on the premises.
After the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, Pakistan had refused to accept the bodies of nine Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists killed by the security forces. The tenth terrorist, Ajmal Kasab, the only one to have been captured alive, was hanged in a Pune prison in 2013 and his body was buried on the premises.
“We are yet to ascertain the identity of the terrorists as no recoveries have been made. No terrorist group has so far claimed responsibility. The statement by the United Jihad Council (UJC) is only an attempt to give it a Kashmir colour,” said the Intelligence official.
The UJC, an alliance of more than a dozen pro-Pakistan militant groups based in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, had claimed responsibility for the air base attack. “The attack is a message by Mujahideen [militants] that no sensitive installation of India is out of our reach,” UJC spokesman Syed Sadaqat Hussain said in a statement.
Two groups
Security agencies believe there were six terrorists and they were divided into two groups — one of 4 and the other with 2 members.
Security agencies believe there were six terrorists and they were divided into two groups — one of 4 and the other with 2 members.
The modus operandi adopted by the terrorists speaks volumes about the precision training they have received, said the official. “They opened fire at a patrol team at 3.30 a.m., an unusual hour to engage with the enemy. They were clearly aware that the level of alertness would be low at that hour. They did not all come out together, but took on the security forces from different directions.
It is suspected that two terrorists might have entered the Pathankot air base before the Superintendent of Punjab Police Salwinder Singh, his jeweller friend Rajesh Verma and cook Madan Gopal were abducted by the other four, and much before an alert was sounded about their presence in the area.
Mr. Verma, who survived a slit throat, told his interrogators that he heard the four terrorists who hijacked their vehicle talking to their handlers, presumably in Pakistan.
The handler apparently ticked them off, asking why they had not been able to enter the air base when two other terrorists had already reached the target. The four explained that they were on their way. They had not been able to reach the base because there were several police pickets on the way.
It is possible that the four terrorists entered the Pathankot air base in the morning of January 1, much before an alarm was sounded to secure all vital installations, the official said.
NIA registers cases
There are strong indications that the terrorists were assisted by a drugs racket operating along the border and the heavy arms and ammunition they used could have been dispatched from Pakistan before they themselves crossed the border. Security agencies suspect the terrorists crossed the border in Punjab through a “controlled operation” executed by a gang involved in the smuggling of narcotics, fake Indian currency and arms.
There are strong indications that the terrorists were assisted by a drugs racket operating along the border and the heavy arms and ammunition they used could have been dispatched from Pakistan before they themselves crossed the border. Security agencies suspect the terrorists crossed the border in Punjab through a “controlled operation” executed by a gang involved in the smuggling of narcotics, fake Indian currency and arms.
Meanwhile, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) registered cases for waging war against India and inciting riots on Monday, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and Arms Act, against unknown persons, official sources said.
Printable version | Jan 5, 2016 6:34:48 AM | http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/pathankot-squad-was-more-lethal-than-2611-attackers/article8065482.ece
![Security personnel keep vigil at the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot on Monday.]( "Security personnel keep vigil at the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot on Monday.")
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Published: January 5, 2016 01:25 IST | Updated: January 5, 2016 01:28 IST NEW DELHI, January 5, 2016
Counter-terror sweep continues
PTI
Security personnel keep vigil at the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot on Monday.Centre weighing its options on Foreign Secretary talks with Pak.
Counter-terror operations at the Pathankot airbase stretched into the third evening on Monday, even as senior officials said the government was weighing its options on whether to go ahead with the Foreign Secretary-level talks scheduled for next week.
By dusk on Monday, senior military officials in Pathankot announced that they had killed a total of five terrorists, while sources in Delhi said the sixth one may have been blown to pieces in a controlled explosion carried out by the security forces around noon in the airbase.
Evokes 26/11
By then, it had been more than 60 hours since the terrorists and security forces began exchanging fire around 3.30 a.m. on Saturday. The long-drawn-out terrorist attack revived memories of the Mumbai attacks of 2008, when 10 terrorists held the city to ransom for three days. However, given the fact that there was specific intelligence and the attack was in a very limited area, questions continued to linger over the way the entire Pathankot operation was coordinated and conducted.
By then, it had been more than 60 hours since the terrorists and security forces began exchanging fire around 3.30 a.m. on Saturday. The long-drawn-out terrorist attack revived memories of the Mumbai attacks of 2008, when 10 terrorists held the city to ransom for three days. However, given the fact that there was specific intelligence and the attack was in a very limited area, questions continued to linger over the way the entire Pathankot operation was coordinated and conducted.
In New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi convened the National Security Council to take stock of the situation and discuss options for the engagement with Pakistan in the wake of the attack.
“Let the operation get over, then the government will take a view,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told ANI when asked if Indo-Pak. talks would now be affected. According to a senior official, “Various options are being mulled over.”
Among those being considered are postponing the Foreign Secretary talks, scheduled for January 15 in Islamabad, until investigations into the attack are completed, or to hold them only after the NSAs of both sides, tasked to discuss terrorism-related issues, meet up and discuss the terror strike.
Specific alert on attack was received
Even as the counter-terror operations continued at the Pathankot airbase in Punjab on Monday, senior military officers on the spot insisted that all families and air assets in the base were secure and there was no collateral damage on the third day.
Meanwhile, sources said a specific terror alert was received by the Indian agencies a few days before Christmas about six terrorists from Bahwalpur in Punjab province of Pakistan, where Jaish-e-Mohammad is headquartered, planning to execute terror strikes in India.
According to them, the input may have come from a foreign agency. The alert had said that they would be entering India through Samba sector in Jammu and were targeting the Pathankot airbase. And from there on the group was to move towards Delhi.
Printable version | Jan 5, 2016 6:35:38 AM | http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/counterterror-sweep-continues/article8065484.ece
