PTI
NEW DELHI, JANUARY 5
About 300 ‘black cat’ commandos of the elite counter-terror force, NSG, deployed an assortment of most sophisticated assault weapons and “buster” ammunition tools to neutralise the terrorists who had sneaked into the Air Force base in the border town of Pathankot.
In one of the longest running counter-terror operations in the country, the National Security Guard (NSG) suffered minor and major injuries to its 21 personnel, besides the death of its bomb squad Commanding Officer Lt Col E K Niranjan, since the first detachment of about 160 commandos flew out from the Palam military airbase on January 1 on an IAF transport aircraft.
Sources privy to the operation said two more similar special strike units, with a strength of about 80 ‘black cats’ each, were airlifted to Pathankot from Delhi on January 2 and 3. They joined their ‘buddies’ thick in operations at the sprawling airbase, house to the fighter Squadrons of the IAF.
They said it was a “New Year call” to the 24x7 ‘on alert’ counter-terrorist unit based at its garrison in Manesar sometime in the afternoon on January 1 and the commandos of the Special Action Group (SAG) were airborne by 1500 hours.
The call to air-dash to Pathankot was made by the Union Home Ministry to the NSG headquarters, which quickly asked its Force Commander in Manesar to prepare the commando team for assault.
The first team were led by NSG Inspector General (Operations) Major General Dushyant Singh even as Director General R C Tayal camped in Pathankot from Sunday.
The sources said the NSG commandos made extensive use of their special weapons like MP-5 assault rifles, Glock pistols, corner-shot guns and a heavy cache of door and wall-busting explosive charges to corner and eliminate the holed-up terrorists.
They said the ‘buster’ tools, as they are called, were also used during the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks when NSG used them to blow off locked rooms and passages of five-star hotels but some of them used this time were the enhanced variants which the force has procured post the Mumbai operation.
Two terrorists, the sources said, were killed by the NSG men when they were hiding and launching continuous fire and lobbing grenades from a room where the family quarters of the Defence Security Corps (DSC) is located in the airbase. The room was later demolished by the use of heavy fire.
They said the NSG commandos and other security forces, for the last few hours, have been undertaking the “render safe” procedure which entails sanitising the area from hidden improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and booby traps, and hence the operation is taking time.
“Such thing is done after every operation. The area of the IAF base is large and complex hence it is taking time,” one of the sources said.
Half-a-dozen sniffer dogs from the canine (K 9) squad along with their handlers have also been pressed into service by the NSG.
While the elite counter-terror and counter-hijack force has not given a name to the operation till now like ‘Op Black Tornado’ for the 26/11 Mumbai task, the force for the first time lost an officer from its bomb disposal squad.
Thirty-four-year-old Lt Col and Group Captain Niranjan was heading the unit, they said, and was trying to clear and sanitise the body of a terrorist and the surrounding area when a cleverly concealed grenade blew up fatally injuring the officer and five others.
The highly decorated officer was immediately taken to hospital where he breathed his last. He is the 19th martyr of the force which was raised in 1984 for special operations and as a federal contingency force for India.
“He was part of the first team that went to Pathankot on Friday as there were inputs that the terrorists are carrying huge explosives. Niranjan and his bomb disposal men were tasked to aid the fighting units.
“He joined NSG in May, 2014 on deputation from the Engineers Regiment of the Army which he joined in 2004. He was a dare-devil officer and had been part of a special training with the FBI in the US in combating IEDs and deadly explosives a few months ago,” one of Niranjan’s commando course colleague said, while refusing to be identified. The NSG had called the officer’s martyrdom as an act bearing “exemplary courage and utmost devotion to duty”. Seven security personnel and six terrorists have been killed in the attack.
Paying rich tributes to the security personnel who laid down their lives during the Pathankot terror attack, Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday announced financial assistance of Rs 25 lakh and government job each for next of kin of two martyrs from the state - Honorary Captain Fateh Singh and Havildar Kulwant Singh.
The chief minister said that it was a modest effort of the state government to pay tribute to these brave hearts who made supreme sacrifice while protecting the unity and integrity of the nation.
“The state government will leave no stone unturned to bail these families out of the crisis in this hour of grief,” Badal told reporters during his Sangat Darshan programme in Qadian assembly constituency here.
Badal said the state government was ready to help the family of any security personnel who lost his life during the attack, irrespective of the fact that whether he hails from Punjab or not. He said he had asked state government officials to contact such families for extending a helping hand in this hour of crisis.
“It is an onerous duty on our part to bail out these distressed families in this difficult time as they have sacrificed their lives to safeguard the nation’s integrity and sovereignty,” he said.
Badal appealed to the Centre “to plug all the loopholes at the border” to prevent any sort of intrusion of terrorists. He said it was high time that security is beefed up along the border to check cross-border terrorism.
“We will again take up this issue with the Union government to ensure that terror attacks like Dinanagar (in July last year) and Pathankot should not reoccur,” he said.
Earlier, addressing public gatherings at Sanghar and Kang, the chief minister said that the state government has taken several initiatives for the well being of people.
Hitting out at the opposition Congress, the chief minister alleged that this party has done lot of injustice with the state by depriving of its capital, legitimate share in river waters and Punjabi-speaking areas.
A case of mistaken identities sums up the ordeal of Punjab police officer Salwinder Singh, who was abducted early on Friday and subsequently released by terrorists before they attacked Pathankot air base.
Gurdaspur superintendent of police Singh on Tuesday said he stopped his car when five men in military-style clothing signalled him to halt and he had no reason to believe or could tell in the darkness they were terrorists in disguise moving in an area where army movements are routine.
But he knew right away that they were terrorists when the men rushed towards his car, the moment it braked to a halt. “Those people had AK-47. They stabbed and blindfolded me … my hands and legs were tied up too. They did not ask us the way. They had GPS with them.”
Fortunately, the Singh was in his civvies and without his guard since he was travelling to a temple.
“The terrorists didn’t know I was a superintendent of police. I was on my way to a temple and, so, I was unarmed too,” Singh said.
The terrorists took his mobile phone and spoke in Urdu. “One of them said ‘Salam alaikum’ and hung up. They were talking to their commander, I think,” he said pointing to their handlers in Pakistan.
The officer also rubbished allegations that his seniors in Punjab Police wasted too much time in verifying his story instead of alerting all security agencies after he narrated the incident.
“I informed police as soon as I could. I completed my responsibility. They believed me completely. If I had tried to fight them, they would have killed me. They were five armed men,” he said.
Singh was pushed out of his vehicle, an SUV, some miles away.
The National Investigating Agency (NIA) registered three cases to probe the conspiracy behind the Pathankot terror attack. The first of the three cases pertains to the Gurdaspur SP’s abduction.
On Day 4 of the attack, an official said six terrorists were killed and troops assisted by military attack helicopters were conducting a mopping-up operation to secure the sprawling compound of the frontline air base.
Guns fell silent at Pathankot air base on Tuesday after troops killed the last terrorist holed up there but the political war on the attack escalated with the Congress and BJP trading barbs over scheduled India-Pakistan talks.
The Congress came down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for engaging in talks with Pakistan despite the attack of the IAF base, saying a dialogue in Islamabad between foreign secretaries of the two countries should be called off.
“Terror and talks can’t go hand in hand. After Ufa (a Russian resort where Modi met Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif), you saw the Gurdaspur attack. After Lahore, you have seen Pathankot. So under these circumstances first thing this government must do is to call off the foreign secretary-level talks,” Congress leader Manish Tewari said.
The BJP countered its main rival, saying it should stop politicising terror.
Minister of state for parliamentary affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi asked the Congress to keep petty politics aside when it came to national security.
Read: Missed clues, security gaps in run-up to Pathankot airbase attack
“Terrorism is an international challenge and the world is fighting against it as one. Amid such a situation, things should not be said that bolster the confidence of the terrorists and our global war against terrorism is affected,” Naqvi said.
“They (Congress) need to introspect and think about their political childishness. They also need to think about what they say during such sensitive times when the nation is standing together.”
BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said any party trying to gain political mileage from the terror attack with untimely comments was condemnable.
“They are making such comments even when an operation is going on the field and our security forces are fighting bravely and have given their life. It shows the Congress in poor light,” he said.
Congress continued with their verbal barrage, targeting the government’s “soft stand” on Pakistan.
Tewari said the NDA government was bending over backwards to please a hostile neighbour. “There is a growing perception in the strategic circles that this government is going to hand over Sir Creek and Siachen to Pakistan. So, it is very imperative that this government makes a declaration and take the nation into confidence as to what transpired during its engagements with Pakistan.”
Party colleague Anand Sharma made a similar demand, separately.
“After cancellation of NSA-level talks in August, what was the understanding reached between NSA Ajit Doval and his Pakistani counterpart in Bangkok? After the Pathankot attack, the government should take the nation into confidence and consult all political parties.”
The political war of words continued even as security forces searched the sprawling air base on Tuesday for any more terrorist hidden there. It is spread over more than 2,000 acres, including forests and fields.
