Defence establishments on high alert after threat of attack

Defence establishments in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab have been put on a high alert after intelligence inputs that a Pathankot style attack may take place.

Informed sources said there were inputs of around eight Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists, who infiltrated into India, had headed towards Punjab.

The intelligence inputs said the terrorists may be targeting army and air force installations in Jammu region and Punjab to carry out a Pathankot-style attack, following which all bases have been asked to be on high alert.

On January 2, 2016, an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot was attacked, leaving seven security personnel and a civilian dead and 37 security personnel and one civilian injured. All four terrorists, who were from Pakistan, were killed.

After the Pathankot attack, the biggest attack on an army establishment came at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir on September 18, 2016, when four heavily-armed terrorists attacked the army camp there, leaving 19 soldiers dead. The Uri army camp had also come under attack on December 5, 2015, when 8 soldiers and three policemen were killed, along with six militants.

Again on November 29, 2016, seven army personnel, including two officers, were killed in Nagrota after suicide bombers armed with guns and grenades stormed the military base near Jammu. Three attackers were also gunned down on the base campus, while three other militants died in a shootout with security forces near the International Border with Pakistan.

--IANS

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