Suspicious people seen near army cantonment, search operation on

Suspicious movement of two people in army fatigues near a cantonment in Punjab's Gurdaspur district was reported by residents on Wednesday, following which a massive search operation was launched by the army and Punjab Police, officials said.

The search operation was launched in a 15-acre stretch of sugarcane fields in Pandher village, located just two km from the Tibri cantonment, 10 km from Gurdaspur town.

Gurdaspur district police chief Gurpreet Singh Toor said the security forces were not taking any chances with the information and the area was being scanned thoroughly.

Police said over 1,000 security personnel were involved in the search operation.

Residents of Pandher and nearby villages were asked to vacate their homes till the search operation was completed.

Six terrorists, who had infiltrated the high-security Pathankot air base, 35 km from here, in a pre-dawn attack on Saturday, were killed by security forces. Seven security personnel were killed in the counter offensive.

Intelligence reports in the last week of December had clearly stated that 15 terrorists had sneaked into India and would carry out "spectacular attacks" on various establishments, especially defence related.