As the operation against the terrorists entered the third
day, NSG, IAF and Army officers said there was no collateral damage to the
strategic Air Force assets. At least two terrorists are believed to be holed up
in a two-storey building in the complex.
Forty hours into the operation against the terrorists who
stormed the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, investigating agencies have not
yet made any significant recoveries that could give a clue to their identity or
the route they took to enter India.
A top intelligence officer told reporters they were not sure whether
the terrorists belonged to Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). Their initial
presumption was based on a piece of paper recovered from SP Salwinder Singh’s
vehicle, which was snatched by the terrorists and abandoned later. “It is all a
presumption till now that they belonged to JeM. We have not recovered any GPS
sets yet that could have given clues about their location. It could be LeT as
well… we don’t know yet,” said the intelligence official.
A senior government official said the Border Security Force
(BSF) had scanned footages from the surveillance cameras installed along
Punjab’s and Jammu’s border with Pakistan. “There has been no breach along the
fences…. For the past three days, we have also checked the border areas for
some kind of tunnel, but haven’t found anything yet,” the official said.
The mortal remains of slain NSG commando Lt. Col. Niranjan E
Kumar who was killed in an accidental explosion during combing operations at
Pathankot air base on Sunday was bought to Bengaluru. From here he will now be taken to
Jalahalli Air Force Base from where the body will be airlifted to Palakkad,
Kerala, along with 15 family members. The body is expected to reach the native
village by Monday evening and the last rites would be conducted on Tuesday
morning. Seven security personnel have died -- Garud Commando Gursevak Singh, Subehdar Major
(Retd) Fateh Singh, Havildar Kulwant Singh, IAF commando Kartar Singh, Jawan
Jagdish Singh, Jawan Sanjiv Kumar. The funerals of three martyrs were held on Monday.
The terrorists are believed to have crossed over into India
on the intervening night of December 30-31. They entered the air force base
sometime between January 1 and 2, the firing began early on Saturday morning.