Aerial surveillance detected militants entering Pathankot air base: defence ministry

New Delhi: Following the terror attack on the Indian Air Force station in Punjab’s Pathankot in the wee hours of Saturday, a high level meeting was held at the South Block in New Delhi to take of the situation.[caption id=“attachment_2568516” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  SWAT team during an encounter between the security forces and terrorists at the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot on Saturday. PTI [/caption] As per the latest reports, the fifth terrorist who was hold up for quite sometime since morning was also gunned down by Indian Army soldiers. So far, two personnel from the Defence Security Corps and IAF Garud commando have been martyred. The meeting was attended by Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, national security adviser Ajit Doval and the three service chiefs among others. The Ministry of Defence issued a statement after the meeting. The text: “Intelligence inputs had been available of a likely attempt by terrorists to infiltrate into the military installation in Pathankot area. In response, preparatory actions had been taken by the Indian Air Force (IAF) to thwart any such attempt. “Due to the effective preparation and coordinated efforts by all the security agencies a group of terrorists were detected by the aerial surveillance platforms as soon as they entered the Air Force Station at Pathankot. The infiltrators were immediately engaged and contained within a limited area, thus preventing them from entering the Technical zone where high value assets are parked. “Through timely and prompt action by all agencies, the likely plan of the terrorists to destroy valuable assets of the Air Force has been foiled. Currently the operation is going on. The Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Western Air Command is on location and personally supervising and coordinating with the Army, NSG and local civil police for exchange of information and operational activity.”