Pathankot terrorists trained in Pak at Chaklala or Lyallpur airbase: Top security officer

The terrorists, who attacked the Pathankot IAF base, were specially trained for over a month in either the Chaklala or Lyallpur airbase in Pakistan, said a senior government official in an exclusive interview to India Today TV.

The official said the terrorists were not trained pilots though they knew the basic structure of the airbase and how to harm aircraft and other assets including ammunition and petrol dumps. Though the attack took the establishment by surprise, expensive and strategic assets like aircraft and missiles were taken away 2 days before the strike.

Reflecting on the time taken to complete the operation, the official said the forces were keen on capturing the terrorists alive by draining the terrorists of their food and ammunition supplies as well as tire them psychologically.

The official said foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan due in mid-January may be postponed as a result of the Pathankot misadventure. For the talks to continue, Pakistan must arrest the perpetrators, seize their properties and file cases against them. The official said one terrorist handler was in touch from Sialkot, others from Shakargarh and Bahawalpur were in touch with terrorists. The terrorists had entered Punjab from Shakarghad border, the official said.

Operation to flush terrorists

The brief was to minimise casualties, contain and corner the terrorists in areas which didn't have valuable assets. The forces were told to sanitise the area and move forward, the official said. If the terrorists were near assets, the forces would not have cared about casualties.

Noting the explosions that took place after the terrorists were killed, the official said even after the terrorists were dead they had set up 29 explosive devices within the airbase. The official did admit the mopping up took time since sanitising the residential area was very sensitive.

The official said the operation began at dawn on January 2 and all terrorists were killed by 1.30pm on January 3.

The National Security Guard's Major General Dushyant Singh commanded the operations. All troops were from 320 contingent of the NSG and were better trained and equipped to handle explosives and suicide bombers. There was complete coordination between airforce, army, NSG and Punjab Police, said the senior official.

Though the terrorists were better trained than the lot who had staged the 26/11 attacks, they were deadly given that they were carrying aluminium powder which spreads fire and can't be doused even with fire extinguishers.

Of the six terrorists, two were rested from the earlier strike to give the impression that only four had sneaked in. They struck later. They wanted to attack assets and tried to take advantage in early 3rd January morning but were cornered in a building and blown away

Intelligence failure

Contrary to media speculation, the official said there has been no specific input on the Pathankot attack though some army establishments were on alert. But there was no intelligence failure, the official said.

Casualties

Only the Garud commando, Gursewsk Singh, died in combat with terrorists. The 5 Defence Security Corp personnel were unarmed inside the mess and were ambushed due to first strike advantage the terrorists had. The official said Lt Col Niranjan died of accidental circumstances while disposing explosive.

The NSG response was swift with the team reaching Pathankot within hours. Nine columns of army were put into action. The official added that the theory of Salwinder Singh, the Gurdaspur Superintendent of Police, that he was going to a mazar with his jeweller friend was suspicious. Punjab Police did not act on his tip-off promptly due to his behaviour in the past since Salwinder Singh had several molestation cases against him.

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