Security forces on Monday put Pathankot district in Punjab on high alert after reports said two people carrying weapons were spotted in the area.
In January 2016, seven security personnel were killed after militants attacked the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot.
According to a report in the Hindustan Times, two men in Army fatigues stopped a resident at 11 pm on Sunday near Bamiyal village, threatened him and drove away with his car. The car was later found parked near Fatehpur village in Punjab, the report said. “My team and I have been searching the area and have sealed the Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir border and every vehicle is being checked,” Pathankot Senior Superintendent of Police Vivek Sheel Soni told the newspaper.
However, according to a report in PTI, a resident gave the two heavily armed men a lift in his car on Sunday night. The resident claimed that the two got down at a place near Kathua in neighbouring Jammu and Kashmir, the police said.
In July 2015, three heavily-armed terrorists wearing Army fatigues had stormed a police station in Dinanagar town of Gurdaspur district in Punjab and killed seven persons. This was followed by the attack on the Air Force base in Pathankot a year later. Following these incidents, the Punjab Police has provided nine bulletproof tractors to security personnel in Gurdaspur and Pathankot, PTI reported.
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