Over 62 hours after suspected Pakistani terrorists raided the IAF base here killing seven security personnel and losing five of their own, senior officers said on Monday evening that they were still sensitizing the area for possible hidden attackers.
"The operations are still going on. We have been able to eliminate the fifth terrorist. Combing and search operations continue," Inspector General Major Gen Dushant Singh of the NSG told the media in the evening.
He said that security forces comprising NSG, the army, air force with its air and ground assets, police and intelligence agencies were working in sync to make the operation successful.
"All the assets of the air base, including personnel and families, have been secured and are safe," he said. "Given the magnitude of the base, the operations will continue till we are able to fully render it safe."
The terrorists infiltrated the Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Pathankot before dawn on Saturday, leading to fierce gun battles with security forces. Four terrorists died on Saturday after 15 hours of fighting.
Seven security personnel, including an officer of the National Security Guards (NSG), an IAF Garud commando and five Defence Services Corps (DSC) personnel, were killed by the terrorists.
The United Jehad Council (UJC), an umbrella grouping of Kashmiri militant groups based in Pakistan, on Monday claimed responsibility for the attack.
The UJC, led by Syed Salahuddin, said the raid "was carried out by the national highway squad of the UJC".
The Dawn, a leading a Pakistani newspaper, on Monday urged Islamabad to act if it was proved that Pakistanis were involved in the terror attack.
Search and combing operations continued even on Monday evening, the third day of the attack.
Security forces moved to secure every inch of the air base. Occasional sound of firing and a blast was heard from inside earlier when it was suspected that two terrorists were still holed up.
Brigadier Anupinder Singh of the army said the terrorists were holed up in a double-storeyed building, a living accommodation of the IAF personnel. "The operations are on to clear this building."
Officers said the terrorists were well prepared and heavily armed and wanted to target strategic assets of the IAF at the base where a MIG-21 Bison fighter squadron and MI-35 attack helicopters are stationed.
A search was also on in nearby villages for possible terrorists.
Punjab Police on Monday arrested three men linked to smuggling gangs and recovered sophisticated weapons with Pakistani and Chinese markings from them.
NSG and army commandos conducted a thorough mopping of the entire area where the terrorists, suspected to be from Pakistan and trained by the outlawed Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) outfit, had been cornered, police said.
IAF helicopters flew through the night over the base.
Twenty security personnel, including 12 from the NSG and eight from the IAF, have been injured. A grievously injured securityman was flown to Chandigarh.
On Monday, those killed by the terrorists were cremated with military honours.
Thousands paid tributes to NSG commando Lt. Col. Niranjan E.K. at his residence in Bommasandra in Bengaluru.
IAF Garud commando Gursewak Singh was cremated with military honours on Monday in his village Garnala in Haryana's Ambala district. Hundreds thronged the venue.
Gursewak Singh, 25, was killed on Saturday. The commando had got married only about 45 days back.
"I am proud of my son. He has laid down his life for the country," said Gursewak's father Sucha Singh, a former soldier.
In Punjab's Gurdaspur district, international-level shooting champion Subedar Major Fateh Singh was cremated with military honours. Breaking tradition, his daughter led the coffin bearers.
"I am proud of my father. He was a very brave man. Everyone should get a father like him," she said.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal visited the families of Fateh Singh and Havildar Kulwant Singh in their native villages Jhandewal Khurd and Chak Sharif in Gurdaspur district.
The Punjab government urged New Delhi to accord "sensitive" status to areas along the international border with Pakistan in view of the recent attacks by Pakistani terrorists.
CONGRESS, BJP IN WAR OF WORDS OVER PATHANKOT ATTACK
A war of words erupted between the BJP and the Congress on Monday over the Pathankot attack, with the opposition party questioning the government's handling of the threat to the nation's security and the ruling party hitting back saying the opposition should not politicise such a sensitive issue like terrorism.
"Intelligence report on a terror module's infiltration in Delhi, bomb scare on the Shatabdi Express train and all-round general security alert have created an atmosphere of insecurity, raising a question mark on the government's efficacy to neutralise the threat with the alacrity it deserves," Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken said in a statement here.
"Seemingly, there is a lack of 'command and control structure' within the government to deal with, take control of and direct elimination of the terror attack like the one in Pathankot," he added.
The main opposition party asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not describe as "Pakistanis" the terrorists who attacked the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot.
"Why is the prime minister giving a new description of terrorists as 'enemies of humanity' instead of describing them as Pakistani terrorists?" Maken asked.
"In one of the most sinister terror attack since 26/11 (the November 26, 2008 attack in Mumbai), Pakistani terrorists have committed a dastardly attack on India's security by storming the IAF base in Punjab, which is one of our principal first line of defence," he said.
The Congress also criticised the government for not convening a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) to assess the situation.
"As expected, the prime minister should have convened a CCS meeting with all his ministers, monitor the situation and provide a clear-cut unified command to give a befitting reply to Pakistani terrorists and their handlers in Pakistan," the Congress leader said.
"Besides saving many lives in the process, Modi ji should have sent a strong message of reassurance qua security to all countrymen and a stern warning to those in Pakistan that is exporting terror modules into India," he added.
Taking a dig at Modi, Maken said: "Even as the neutralisation of terrorists at the Pathankot air base continued with our security forces fighting valiantly, Modi was propagating yoga to the gatherings in Karnataka."
He said Modi also addressed a press conference amid the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, when he was the Gujarat chief minister.
The BJP criticised the Congress for flaying the government.
"In the midst of the operation, the Congress criticism is unfortunate. It should not politicise the such a sensitive issue like terrorism," BJP national secretary Srikant Sharma told IANS.
"The menace of terrorism is four decades old and the NDA government has inherited it from the previous governments," he added.
Sharma also said the Congress has no moral right to question the Modi government and its poliicies against terrorism.
"Those who are responsible for the menace of terrorism have no moral right to question those trying to solve it," he said.
He also claimed that the government was a visible one and handled the Pathankot attack actively.
"The previous UPA regime's approach towards terrorism was casual whereas the present government is active and visible. There was an input from security agencies and the government handled the issue prudently," Sharma said.
On the Congress's criticism that Modi had addressed a press conference amid the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, he said: "We will respond to the Congress's allegation in their language at appropriate time."
