Indian security forces were yesterday battling an armed attack on a police station near the Pakistan border in which at least five people have been killed.
Authorities said two police officers and three civilians had been confirmed dead in the ongoing siege in the northern state of Punjab, and at least seven more injured.
A reporter at the scene said fierce firing could be heard near the police station in the town of Gurdaspur, bringing panicked residents out onto the streets.
Photo: AFP
Deputy police commissioner Abhinav Trikha said the attackers appeared to be holed up in the residential quarters of the police station and were “firing continuously.”
“There were three to four attackers. They were dressed in army uniforms and came in a Maruti car,” Trikha told reporters at the scene.
The attackers reportedly opened fire on a bus and hijacked a vehicle before storming the police station.
Local police spokesman Rajvinder Singh said he had witnessed a security officer being shot during the stand-off.
“I do not know his condition, but he was immediately rushed to the hospital. The operation is on and this is still a live operation,” Singh said.
Five live bombs were recovered from nearby railway tracks, but Indian Junior Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said reports the attackers were holding people hostage inside the police station appeared to be false.
“We do not think there are any hostages. For now, while the operation is on, it will not be right to divulge details,” he said.
Indian Minister of State for Home Affairs Rajnath Singh said he had ordered increased security on the border with Pakistan, although it remained unclear who was responsible for the attack.
Such incidents are relatively common in the disputed Kashmir region, which is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed in full by both.
However, Punjab, a majority-Sikh state, has largely been spared the violence that has plagued Indian Kashmir for decades.
Some media reports suggested the attackers might have crossed into Punjab from Kashmir before launching their assault.
In November last year, a suicide bomber killed at least 55 people on the Pakistan side of the Wagah border in Punjab, the main Pakistan-India border crossing.
Yesterday’s attack comes weeks after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif spoke for about an hour during a summit in Russia, raising hopes of an improvement in perennially difficult relations.
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