Operation enters third day, more forces rushed to Pathankot air base

The operation against militants holed up at Pathankot air base entered the third day today after explosions and firing continued intermittently overnight.

Security forces had yesterday killed one of the at least two terrorists on the second day of the attack in which seven security personnel lost their lives including a Lieutenant Colonel of the NSG. Four terrorists were eliminated on Saturday when they had struck at the air base.

The operation stretched through the night with sounds of gunfire and explosions continuing till around 10 AM today after which they have ceased. Attack helicopters were still flying over the area.

More quick response teams have been rushed to the site.

Defence sources had last night said that one more terrorist was killed while another was injured.

The holed up militants were discovered in the forested area on the backside of the air base from where they are reported to have entered.

Air Commodore JS Dhamoon, Air Officer Commanding at the base, had said seven security men--one Garud commando, one NSG officer and five personnel of Defence Security Corps(DSC) have been martyred inthe operation. Seventeen security personnel were also injured till now.

Lt Col E K Niranjan, a member of the NSG's Bomb Disposal Squad and a Kerala resident, died after he succumbed to injuries which he sustained while he was trying to retrieve a live grenade from the body of a dead terrorist. Four other security men were also injured in this explosion.

Three Defence Security Corps (DSC) personnel also succumbed to injuries at the hospital here during the intervening night of January 2 and 3. Garud commando Gurusewak Singh and two members of the DSC were killed in the gunbattle on Saturday at the air base, located barely 35 km from the Indo-Pak border.

"We are sure that still there are at least two more terrorists as firing have come from two different places. But we are not sure whether there are some more. We will come to know the number of terrorists only after the completion of the operation and body count," Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi had told a press conference in Delhi on Sunday.