PATHANKOT : Prime Minister Narendra Modi today visited the Pathankot air base, the target of last Saturday’s brazen terror attack, for a review of the situation and voiced satisfaction over the counteroffensive mounted by the security forces to eliminate the perpetrators.
Under attack from the opposition over the way the terrror onslaught was handled with the security forces taking four days to neutralise the terrorists, Modi visited the facility where he was briefed about the attack and security measures put in place in its aftermath.
Accompanied by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Modi flew to the strategically important air base where Air Force chief Air Marshal Arup Raha and National Security Guard officials briefed him about the attack and counteroffensive launched against the perpetrators with the help of maps, aerial pictures and operational photographs, defence sources said. Army chief Dalbir Singh and chiefs of NSG and BSF were present during the visit.
“Noted with satisfaction the decision-making & its execution, the considerations that went into our tactical response,” PMO tweeted after his visit to the airbase.
“Also noted coordination among various field units. Lauded bravery & determination of our men & women on the ground. They are our pride,” it said in another tweet.
Modi also went around the scene of the audacious attack that exposed the chinks in the armour of the Indian security establishment and was shown the huge cache of weapons and ammunition recovered from the six slain perpetrators. Seven Indian security personnel were also killed during the assault.
The Prime Minister was taken around the Military Engineering Service Yard where the terrorists were first engaged by the security forces and the two-storey billet for airmen’s accomodation where the last two terrorists were killed after the structure was blown up by the security forces, before undertaking an aerial survey of the forward positions along the Indo-Pakistan border.
Security forces had yesterday declared the sprawling Air Force station fully sanitised after a massive combing operation spanning over three days. (PTI)
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