Nine persons, including three police home guards, have been killed and four injured in a shootout, confirmed by the Union home ministry as a terror attack, in Punjab's Gurdaspur district.
The assailants came in a car and they first opened fire at a moving bus which was coming to Punjab side from Jammu and Kashmir on the Amaritsar-Pathankot highway, SSP Gurdaspur Gurpreet Singh said.
The attackers then entered the Dinanagar Police Station and also opened fire at the police personnel. Three persons were injured there, including Dinanagar SHO Mukhtiar Singh, he said.
According to television reports, the four terrorists are holed up inside the police station even as an encounter is underway.
The Army has taken over the operation to flush out the terrorists
The home ministry is monitoring the situation in Gurdaspur.
"I am confident that the situation will be soon brought in control," Home Minister Rajnath Singh said, shortly after he spoke to Home Secretary L C Goyal and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
The home minister has ordered the Border Security Force to immediately move forces to Gurdaspur to assist the police. He also instructed the BSF to enhance vigil along the entire international border with Pakistan.
The timing of the attack, methodology & location are all eerily similar to attacks in the border belt of Jammu, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah tweeted.
Meanwhile, five live bombs, believed to have been planted by the terrorists before they went on a shooting spree, have been recovered on a railway track between Dinanagar and Pathankot.
The assailants came in a car and they first opened fire at a moving bus which was coming to Punjab side from Jammu and Kashmir on the Amaritsar-Pathankot highway, SSP Gurdaspur Gurpreet Singh said.
The attackers then entered the Dinanagar Police Station and also opened fire at the police personnel. Three persons were injured there, including Dinanagar SHO Mukhtiar Singh, he said.
According to television reports, the four terrorists are holed up inside the police station even as an encounter is underway.
The Army has taken over the operation to flush out the terrorists
The home ministry is monitoring the situation in Gurdaspur.
"I am confident that the situation will be soon brought in control," Home Minister Rajnath Singh said, shortly after he spoke to Home Secretary L C Goyal and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
The home minister has ordered the Border Security Force to immediately move forces to Gurdaspur to assist the police. He also instructed the BSF to enhance vigil along the entire international border with Pakistan.
The timing of the attack, methodology & location are all eerily similar to attacks in the border belt of Jammu, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah tweeted.
Meanwhile, five live bombs, believed to have been planted by the terrorists before they went on a shooting spree, have been recovered on a railway track between Dinanagar and Pathankot.