Gunmen attack Indian air force base

Suspected Islamist gunmen staged a pre-dawn attack on a key Indian air base near the Pakistan border Saturday with at least two militants killed in a shootout, officials said, striking a blow to the neighbours' fragile peace process.

At least four gunmen suspected to be from the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed Islamist group dressed in army uniforms infiltrated Pathankot air base in northern Punjab state at around 3:30 am (2200 GMT).

An operation to secure the base was still ongoing 12 hours after the attack -- a rare targeting of an Indian military installation outside disputed Kashmir -- as special commandos combed buildings looking for militants still hiding out.

It comes a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a surprise visit to Pakistan, the first by an Indian premier in 11 years, and threatens to derail talks between the nuclear-armed rivals, who have fought three wars since independence in 1947.

"We want peace but if terrorists carry out attacks on Indian soil we will give them a befitting reply," Home Minister Rajnath Singh said in televised remarks.
A protest broke out on the road leading to Pathankot base in the early afternoon Saturday as angry residents burned effigies apparently intended to resemble Pakistani militants, an AFP journalist at the scene said.

"At least two of the attackers are dead," regional police chief Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh said, adding that six to seven security officers were injured, some critically.

Pakistan moved to condemn the attack Saturday afternoon, describing it as a "terrorist incident".

"Building on the goodwill created during the recent high level contacts between the two countries, Pakistan remains committed to partner with India... to completely eradicate the menace of terrorism afflicting our region," Islamabad's foreign ministry spokesman said.

- Strategic base -

The Pathankot air base houses dozens of fighter jets and is important for its strategic location about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the Pakistan border.
Local television stations showed helicopters surveying the area, while elite National Security Guard commandos were flown in to flush out the attackers.

"We believe they are Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists," a top security official at the scene told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Jaish-e-Mohammed, which is banned in Pakistan, fights against Indian rule in the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir, where a separatist conflict has claimed up to 100,000 lives.

While Punjab has largely been spared such violence, however, it has not been immune.

In July, three gunmen said to be Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militants killed seven people, including four policemen, in an attack in the majority-Sikh state.

Modi's December 25 visit to Lahore to meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif indicated a potential thaw in tensions between the historical foes, and the foreign secretaries of both countries are to meet in Islamabad this month.

But his friendly outreach prompted critics to warn of retaliation by militants.

"Our prime minister visited and after that the terrorists came here. They want friendship with Pakistan but look what they are doing to us," said Ashok Kumar, 52, a shopkeeper in Pathankot.

- Fragile peace process -

Sameer Patil, a security analyst at the Gateway House think-tank in Mumbai, said Saturday's attack was likely to be a cross-border strike possibly carried out in retaliation for the visit.
"There is substantial first evidence of Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba militants trying to sabotage the peace process," he told AFP.

"The long-term planning was always there but the ultimate decision to expedite it would have been taken after the visit."

India blamed Jaish-e-Mohammed for a December 2001 attack on the Indian parliament that killed 11 people, led to a massive military build-up at the border and brought the two countries almost to the brink of war.

New Delhi later suspended all talks with Islamabad after Islamist gunmen attacked the city of Mumbai in November 2008, killing 166 people in attacks planned from Pakistan.

The two countries agreed to resume a peace process in 2011 but tensions spiked again in recent years, with cross-border shelling in Kashmir claiming dozens of lives since 2014.

Authorities had put Punjab on high alert Friday after five gunmen in army fatigues hijacked a car driven by a senior police officer, which was later found abandoned on a highway connecting Pathankot to Kashmir.

It was not clear if there was any link with Saturday's attack.
Source: AFP