The terrorists fired at people near the Dinanagar bus stand and then attacked the Dinanagar police station. “Subsequently these terrorists entered the bordering state of Punjab and attacked a police station in Gurdaspur”, he said, on condition of anonymity.
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The attackers killed at least seven people – civilians and policemen – in the pre-dawn attack in Punjab state, said Harcharan Singh Bains, a state government spokesman.
In a related development, five live bombs were found on Amritsar-Pathankot railway track and the train services on the route have been suspended.
Union home minister Rajnath Singh also spoke to Badal and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval about the situation. They arrived in a Maruti 800 vehicle which they had hijacked after firing at the driver and killing a person in a dhaba nearby.
When asked by a reporter whether the attack could be a reaction to the capital punishment awarded to Yakub Memon in 1993 Mumbai blasts case or it was a case of cross-border terrorism, Singh refused to comment.
According to details, Indian Intelligence Bureau claimed that militants who attacked Indian police station had come from Pakistan.
Indian-held Kashmir regularly experiences attacks by rebels who have been fighting since 1989 for an independent Kashmir or for it to join with Pakistan.
Once a hotbed of terror, particularly in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, the end of the Khalistani separatist movement meant peace in Punjab, giving the state to move on from its troubled times.
In 1984 India battled an insurgency from the Sikhs in Punjab during the 1980’s which led to the assassination India’s late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her own Sikh bodyguards. That is who I assume would be behind it eventually. What appeared to be improvised explosive devices on railway tracks were also shown.
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Quick reaction teams, bomb squads, besides police personnel, including senior officers, have also been deployed in the area which lies close to the Indo-Pakistan border. However, the operation of the attack is similar to the ones that have taken place in Jammu and Kashmir in the recent months.
