Five terrorists killed in attack on Indian Air Force base

(Vatican Radio)  Militants in India today attacked an airforce base near the border with Pakistan and exchanged fire with security forces for several hours, leaving all five gunmen and two Indian soldiers dead. The attack is being seen as an attempt to undo recent progress in relations between India and Pakistan.

Listen to Carol Andrade's report:

On Friday morning, a Punjab police superintendent and two others had their SUV hi-jacked on the Pathankot-Jammu Highway by five men in army fatigues and carrying heavy automatic weapons.

Fifteen hours later, at 3.30 am today, with the whole of Punjab and J&K on high alert about a possible terror attack, five men scaled the walls of the Indian Air Force base at Pathankot as a helicopter gunship hovered above for just such an event. One man was killed in firing immediately, three others over the next few hours.

Finally, at around 5 pm, news came in that the fifth terrorist had also been killed, after being flushed out from the hiding place within the base where he had gone to ground. The IAF also lost two soldiers in the attack.

The success of the operation is being attributed to the way all intelligence agencies from the police, the army and the intelligence bureaus swiftly pooled their resources to bring matters to a proper conclusion.

However, Indo-Pak relations experts are pointing out that nothing should have come as a surprise, that the event follows an established pattern. Whenever talks between the two countries seem to promise fruitfulness, there is usually an incident, either before or after the event.

India’s prime minister Narendra Modi was in Lahore just a week back on a surprise visit to his counterpart Nawaz Sharif, and he had been very warmly received.

Against that background, political observers are seeing this development as a huge challenge to Modi. Predictably, there are sources pointing to elements across the border as being responsible for the attack. Equally predictably, Sharif has sent condolences and swift condemnation, with a plea that the current diplomatic détente not be derailed.

In the end, however, it is up to Mr Modi to decide on the Indian response to this latest outrage.