A fifth gunman has been killed by Indian troops searching an air base after a weekend of fierce fighting with suspected Islamist militants. “And again, I would point you back to what the government of Pakistan itself has said and acknowledged that it’s not going to discriminate among terrorist groups and it will continue to take the fight (to them)”, Kirby said.
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The US has said it expects Pakistan to act in bringing to justice the perpetrators of the Pathankot attack and asked Islamabad to live up to its pledge that it will not “discriminate” among terror groups.
Modi received a call this afternoon from the Prime Minister of Pakistan regarding the terrorist attack on the Pathankot airbase, the PMO said.
The United Jihad Council (UJC) said in a statement that the attack was a message to India that Kashmiri fighters could strike at any sensitive installation across India. Pakistan denies that and says it only provides moral and diplomatic support.
The attack began early Saturday morning and has dragged on as troops struggled to find the heavily armed attackers in the sprawling base, with forests and fields, homes for personnel based there and a school for their children. A Defense Ministry spokesman told CNN Tuesday that “combing operations” were ongoing, but declined to confirm whether all the militants, some of whom were understood to have been holed up at the facility, had been killed or apprehended. Officials did not confirm the reports, however.
“We have established the identity of the handlers of the killed terrorists”.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif calls Modi to extend support on Pathankot attack.
Modi’s visit to its neighbour was the first by an Indian leader in more than a decade.
But now critics are questioning why Modi’s diplomatic gesture has not borne fruit.
“The reality is the fact that we failed to take Singh’s charge seriously, because his history is not clean”, a second senior officer in the Punjab authorities told Reuters, on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, a rapprochement effort between India and Pakistan appeared to be in jeopardy on Monday. In a tweet on Saturday, Modi blamed the “enemies of humanity who can’t see India progress”.
The Foreign Office said in a statement that Pakistan remains committed and is in touch with the Indian government.
The meet was followed by the security advisers of Pakistan and India meeting in Bangkok a week later following which the India’s External Affairs minister visited Pakistan to attend the Heart of Asia conference during which the two sides announced the resumption of talks.
The defence minister also said that from the weapons recovered so far from the terrorists, there are indications that they were sourced from Pakistan.
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Sullivan reported from New Delhi.
