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Pathankot on alert after spotting 4 suspects in army fatigues

Kashmir Times. Dated: 9/28/2016 12:05:52 AM

NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH, Sep 27(Agencies): The security forces have launched a massive search operation after four suspicious men were spotted by villagers near Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border on Tuesday.
According to a national news agency, the security forces have also found abandoned army fatigues from the area.
The four suspicious men wearing army uniforms were seen near Chakki Khadd on Pathankot-Himachal border. Meanwhile, a high alert has been sounded in the area and the police in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh have been informed about the incident.
Efforts are on to nab those suspects. The security forces are also trying to determine if there is any terror link between them. The local police is also conducting searches in the nearby areas to trace those suspects.
This comes at a time when the relationship between Indian and Pakistan have been badly hit in the aftermath of terror attacks in Uri.
Pathankot, where a terror attack claimed the lives of 7 military personnel in January, is on alert as police received reports that four suspicious men in army fatigues have been seen in the area.
The men, a woman caller had told the police, were seen near Chakki Khadd on Pathankot-Himachal border. The Punjab officials have alerted their counterparts in Himachal Pradesh.
An alert has been sounded on the Pathankot-Dalhousie road and Jallandhar-Pathankot highway where key defence installations are located. Around 400 security personnel including SWAT team, have been deployed for conducting the search operation. The army has also been alerted and there is heightened vigil, the police said.
"There was a specific input about the presence of some suspicious men roaming around on Pathankot-Dalhousie road. Following this, a massive search operation has been launched here," a national news agency quoted senior police officer Rakesh Kaushal as saying.
The entire area had been put on alert after last Sunday's terror strike at Kashmir's Uri and the army brass had reviewed the operational preparedness of the troops stationed there.
In January, an attack at the Pathankot air base by Pakistani terrorists had claimed the lives of seven military personnel. Four terrorists, who were out to target the assets at the base, were killed after an operation that lasted nearly 80 hours.
The terrorists, who were from Jaish-e Mohammad, had sneaked into India a few days before the attack, investigators suspected.
On September 25, the Punjab Police and the Border Security Forces had jointly carried out a search operation and flag march in villages near India-Pakistan border to thwart any infiltration attempt by intruders from across the border.