Monday, December 15, 2025
    ADVT 
    National

    Terrorist Attack in Punjab's Gurdaspur district, Gunmen in Army Uniform Attack Police Station

    Darpan News Desk IANS, 26 Jul, 2015 07:44 PM
      At least five people were killed and 10 injured when heavily-armed terrorists wearing army fatigues hijacked a car, drove down to this town in Punjab's Gurdaspur district, peppered the bus stand with bullets and then stormed a police station -- shattering two decades of calm in the state.
       
      Authorities said that five people were killed in the terror attack, while unconfirmed reports said the toll may be higher.
       
      "So far reports of five deaths including three civilians and two police personnel confirmed from Gurudaspur. Operation is still on," tweeted Press Information Bureau in Delhi.
       
      Three home guard personnel who were inside the police station were among those feared killed. Other victims were civilians, including a person inside an adjoining hospital.
       
      Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that he had spoken to director general of Border Security Force (BSF) D.K. Pathak and instructed him to step up the vigil on India-Pakistan border in the wake of attack in Gurdaspur.
       
      Special forces of the army and NSG as well as police commandos took up position around the Dinanagar police station. 
       
      This was the first major terror attack in Punjab following the assassination of then chief minister Beant Singh on August 31, 1995. 
       
      Monday's attack began at 5.30 a.m. at Dinanagar town in Punjab's frontier district of Gurdaspur, close to the India-Pakistan border and near the border with Jammu and Kashmir state.
       
       
      A gun battle raged between the terrorists, holed up inside the Dinanagar police station, and security forces, including soldiers. Continuous sound of firing and lobbying of grenades could be heard even hours after the first shots were fired by the militants.
       
      The police station, adjoining government hospital, residential quarters inside the police station and nearby private houses were quickly cordoned off by security forces.
       
      Minister of state for home Kirren Rijiju told IANS in Delhi that "as of now there is no information regarding hostages being held. We are looking into it and once I get some more information, I will come out with it". 
       
      The terrorists, numbering four, are believed to have come from Pakistan. They arrived in a Maruti 800 car which they had hijacked after firing at the driver and killing a person in a dhaba nearby. They also fired at people near the Dinanagar bus stand and then attacked the Dinanagar police station, located about 100 metres away.
       
      Eyewitnesses said the terrorists fired on a bus going towards Jammu and later entered the police station.
       
      "We were hit by a burst of gunfire suddenly. I was hit on the shoulder. They are firing indiscriminately every five minutes," a Punjab police official, who was injured in the attack, told media as he was being taken to the hospital.
       
       
      The town is about 15 km from the India-Pakistan border and 25 km from the border of Jammu and Kashmir state. It is about 235 km from Chandigarh.
       
      Additional Director-General of Punjab Police, Dinkar Gupta, told media the "attack took the Dinanagar police by surprised". 
       
      Army and police reinforcements were rushed to the spot.
       
      Punjab Police sources said the incident indicated may be a suicide attack.
       
      The attack took place just a day after Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal faced pro-Khalistan slogans while attending a function at Punjab University in Patiala.
       
      In a related development, five live bombs were found on the Amritsar-Pathankot railway track.
       
      The bombs were found by passersby on a bridge near Parmanand railway station on the Amritsar-Pathankot railway section, who informed security forces. Trains on the route were stopped immediately.
       
       
      A major railway tragedy was averted as the bombs were carefully wired to the railway track at a small bridge near Parmanand railway station, five km from Dinanagar. A police spokesman told media that the army bomb disposal unit had defused the bombs.
       
      A train, which was to pass on the railway track, was stopped just 200 metres from the spot where the bombs had been planted.
       

      UPDATES:

      Police reinforcements were rushed to the spot and a counter-offensive by security forces was initiated.
      Prev Next

      MORE National ARTICLES

      RCMP National Website Goes Offline, Anonymous Claims Responsibility

      RCMP National Website Goes Offline, Anonymous Claims Responsibility
      Anonymous has no identifiable leadership but online posters who say they're members have claimed responsibility in the past for hacking incidents including the shutdown of the city of Cleveland's website last fall.

      RCMP National Website Goes Offline, Anonymous Claims Responsibility

      Canadian Techs Train Ukrainian Soldiers In The Art Of Bomb Disposal

      Canadian Techs Train Ukrainian Soldiers In The Art Of Bomb Disposal
      The soldiers, from the 4th Engineering Support Regiment, based in Gagetown, N.B., are in Yavoriv, Ukraine to impart skills hard-won in the over decade-long Afghan war.

      Canadian Techs Train Ukrainian Soldiers In The Art Of Bomb Disposal

      Steven Sharda, 20-Year-Old Indo-Canadian Youth Shot Dead in Calgary

      Steven Sharda, 20-Year-Old Indo-Canadian Youth Shot Dead in Calgary
      Steven Sharda, 20, was found dead in a vehicle on July 11, South Asian Link reported. Another unidentified person, found with Sharda in the vehicle, was critically injured and is battling for his life in a hospital.

      Steven Sharda, 20-Year-Old Indo-Canadian Youth Shot Dead in Calgary

      Toddler Found Dead, Victoria Police Investigate Sudden Death

      Toddler Found Dead, Victoria Police Investigate Sudden Death
      Victoria Police are investigating the sudden death of a toddler in a hotel room. Police say officers responded to reports of a woman screaming at a hotel on Douglas Street at around 4 a.m. Saturday.

      Toddler Found Dead, Victoria Police Investigate Sudden Death

      Police Confirm Boy's Death After Falling 15 Storeys From Toronto High Rise

      Police Confirm Boy's Death After Falling 15 Storeys From Toronto High Rise
      TORONTO — Police have confirmed that a little boy who fell 15 storeys from a high rise apartment building in Toronto's east end (near Overlea Boulevard) has died.

      Police Confirm Boy's Death After Falling 15 Storeys From Toronto High Rise

      B.C. Watchdog Investigating Two Police Killings In Less Than A Week In Surrey And Dawson Creek

      B.C. Watchdog Investigating Two Police Killings In Less Than A Week In Surrey And Dawson Creek
      SURREY, B.C. — British Columbia's police watchdog is investigating its second police shooting in three days after officers killed a distressed man in Surrey early Saturday, sparking alarm from civil liberties advocates.

      B.C. Watchdog Investigating Two Police Killings In Less Than A Week In Surrey And Dawson Creek

      PrevNext