Pakistan condemns terrorist attack in Indian Punjab

Nine people, including three attackers, killed in Gurdaspur as India tightens border security

NEW DELHI: Pakistan has strongly condemned a terrorist attack in Indian Punjab on Monday, which left at least nine people, including three attackers, dead.

"We condemn in the strongest terms the terrorist incident in Gurdaspur, India, today, in which a number of precious lives have been lost. There are reports of others having suffered injuries. Our thoughts are with the bereaved families," the foreign office said in a statement.

Indian Punjab police personnel take position during an encounter with armed attackers at the police station in Dinanagar town, in the Gurdaspur district of Punjab state on July 27, 2015. PHOTO: AFP

Following the incident, India tightened security on its border with Pakistan.

However, an official reaction from the Indian government in this regard is yet to be released.

Police managed to kill three unidentified attackers who had holed up in a police station in Gurdaspur district. The attackers had pulled up at the police complex in a stolen white car, automatic weapons blazing, at about 5 am.

Reiterating Pakistan’s stance, the foreign office said Pakistan condemns terrorism in all of its forms and manifestations.

"We extend heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the Government and people of India and wish the wounded speedy and full recovery," it added.

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Throughout the day, regular bouts of small arms fire echoed
across the town of Dinanagar and the paddy fields around it,
some 15 km from the international border, Reuters
witnesses said.

Soldiers were also deployed, at least one of them armed with a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher.

"We have been able to limit (the attack). They are surrounded, they are holed up in the police station. We are on top of the situation," said Harcharan Bains, an adviser to Indian Punjab's chief minister.

Indian Army soldiers take position during an encounter with armed attackers at the police station in Dinanagar town, in the Gurdaspur district of Punjab state on July 27, 2015. PHOTO: AFP

A local police chief was among those killed.

Indian police sources alleged the attackers entered India from Pakistan two days ago in the troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir, a short distance to the north.

Jitendra Singh, a junior minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office, said he did not rule out Pakistan's involvement.

"There have also been earlier reports of Pakistan infiltration and cross-border mischief in this area," said Singh, whose constituency in the Jammu region borders Gurdaspur.

Further, Modi called for an emergency high-level meeting to discuss the attack, according to The Hindu.

The dead included four civilians and two policemen, said HS Dhillon, a senior Punjab police officer. Some others were injured, he added.

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Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh said he had spoken to the head of India's Border Security Force and "instructed him to step up the vigil on India-Pakistan border".

"The situation is under control," Singh told reporters.

The group of about five attackers came in a white Maruti-Suzuki car, dressed in army uniforms, said Harcharan Bains, an adviser to Indian Punjab's chief minister. The attackers took the vehicle at gunpoint from a roadside "dhaba" restaurant, another local politician told Reuters.

Indian Punjab police personnel take position during an encounter with armed attackers at the police station in Dinanagar town, in the Gurdaspur district of Punjab state on July 27, 2015. PHOTO: AFP

Five bombs were also found on a railway track in the state where Indian fought a deadly Sikh insurgency in the 1980s.

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The men were thought to have sneaked in from the neighbouring state of Jammu and Kashmir, NDTV said. The police station they stormed was in Gurdaspur district, which borders Pakistan.

Television footage showed a white Maruti car with its windshield peppered with bullet holes, and broken glass and bullet casings on the passenger seat. What appeared to be improvised explosive devices on railway tracks, were also shown.