PM presides over high-level meeting to discuss Pathankot op

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today presided over a high-level meeting to discuss the ongoing operation at Pathankot air base to flush out holed up terrorists and the attack on Indian consulate in Afghanistan.

Top security officials, including NSA Ajit Doval, are learnt to have briefed Modi on the ongoing operation in Pathankot as well as the terror strike at the Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif yesterday.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, both members of the Cabinet Committee on Security, were also present at the meeting.

Soon after returning from his two-day visit to Karnataka, Modi had chaired a similar meeting last night of top officials, including Doval and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar.

The operation against militants holed up at the 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.