Pathankot AirForce base under attack

jagga · Post by **jagga** » 03 Jan 2016 22:01

Martyr Kulwant Singh

jagga · Post by **jagga** » 03 Jan 2016 22:02

'Proud that my son died for the country,' says martyred commando Gursewak's father

• The family members of martyred Garud commando Gursewak Singh were in a state of shock
• Gursewak, who was described as an intelligent and bright youth, by his father, had cleared the Air Force exam in the first attempt.
• He had got married just 45 days ago.

jagga · Post by **jagga** » 03 Jan 2016 22:05

'He is Arjuna, has made us feel proud,' says martyred Lt Col Niranjan's sister

His older sister Bhagya Lakshmi said her brother was like Arjuna who fought in his Karmabhoomi. "We lost our mother when he was four years old and he had difficult personal life growing up. The country shouldn't remember him just as a soldier who laid down his life but a man faced a lot of struggles to achieve his dream," she said.
"He has made us feel proud but the loss is something we can hardly bear. I still can't imagine what was going through his mind when he went to into defuse a bomb," she added.

johneeG · Post by **johneeG** » 03 Jan 2016 22:07

It seem Indian consulate in Astan was also attacked. Attack on air force base is quite huge and cannot be ignored.

US sanctioned Iran. Russia sanctioned Turkey. As a first step, India should also sanction Pakistan. And then, covert actions in pakjab. Finally, prepare for war by building up the economy & arsenal indigenously.

But, one thing I don't want is: to stop talks. This whole 'start the talk'-'stop the talk' has become a farce. Whether we talk or don't talk is not going to make any difference. The difference is going to be made with other actions.

ravip · Post by **ravip** » 03 Jan 2016 22:09

https://twitter.com/nitingokhale/status ... 4840379392

Injured NSG jawan is taken to hospital in Pvt Car!!!Where is the ambulance and first aid??? Speaks volumes about local administration and Op Commander.

member_29247 · Post by **member_29247** » 03 Jan 2016 22:10

Ok since people don't like song and dance

So in all 5 idiots trained have cost

Senior officers and Jawans in all 12

The cost of equipment and dispenpensable supples

A very economical operation by TSP

By going to war costs will only go up so

TALK is cheap and better option

Let talks continue

Gyan · Post by **Gyan** » 03 Jan 2016 22:11

SRoy wrote:
Gyan wrote:Manjgu is arguing that DSC has cook division which only cooks even as fighting goes on right in front of them. I wonder if the rest of DSC also has squads who only sleeps, rests, plays chess and will only fight if required in their assigned shift under proper service conditions. He his unable to accept the concept of All Hands on the Deck.
Bhai, have ever been to any Air Force Station? Do you know who constitute the DSC ranks?

Your post is quite condescending.

FYI, the DSC ranks are filled from ex-Army soldiers. Quite possibly (if you are young) they might be of your father's age and despite being fit they are physically no match for a well trained 20 something. Sentry duties and patrolling is okay (that too something they do in tandem with the Air Force Police), don't expect more.

Off duty guards don't carry weapons.

What the DSC guard did was beyond his call of duty.

Of BTW, if antecedents are important for you, I have spent better part of my life up in Air Force Stations.

Kindly read the line of posts, the issue was not DSC fighting terrorists. The issue was that DSC personnel who were killed were caught unaware of the terrorists having infilterated the base which is now coming out openly. We respect yr service for the nation. But you don't know my age and I don't think 75 years old persons are in service in any military department. Manju is a kid talking big beyond his years. Anyway, Condensation is not good vis a vis each other. There are some major issues in Govt leaks to media and stories are not jelling.

Tell me why NSG is involved but not special forces of army or Ghatak? Why's RM, Army chief or GoC Pathankot so quiet? NSG helping military is like sheep telling lion how to hunt? This is Pathankot which has 50,000+ soldiers around and every weapon imaginable available to Army.

sudeepj · Post by **sudeepj** » 03 Jan 2016 22:14

Reading the headlines this morning, I can truly understand why old warriors say that fighting a defensive battle is much more difficult than being the aggressive side.

<begin dream>5 days after the Pathakot attack, 4 overwrought pilots of the IAF destined for a live fire exercise in Rajasthan commandeered their planes and strafed PAF planes at SarGodha. The pilots were arrested when they landed and their detailed interrogation is in progress at AFB Pathankot. GoI denies any responsibility for the attack. There is pressure on the Pak PM Shareef to not let these isolated incidents of violence by enemies of humanity to stop the ongoing thaw in the relations. </>

One can only dream.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 03 Jan 2016 22:23

I am warning Gyan, Manjgu and d_berwal, AvinashR (you 2 for baiting each other). You all are on notice and will be banned summarily with any comment in this thread.

You can post only news reports.

the ops are still going on.

many relatives and friends of forces in Pathankot are reading this as we write. 94 guests.

Should be ashamed of writing drivel here.

Gyan you appear older person. Why are you writing agyani posts

JE Menon · Post by **JE Menon** » 03 Jan 2016 22:29

Spinster - desist. If the only point is to sing various tunes of "woe is me and my nation" BR is not the place.

To all: the country is being attacked. Support is what is required, not cynicism.

Take this as Ramana's warning being seconded.

VikramS · Post by **VikramS** » 03 Jan 2016 22:36

shiv wrote:
rohitvats wrote:
The river that you see running to east of the base is Chakki River! And the river inside the base is a canal which branches of from a major canal originating in headwords of Ravi river in Madhopur. The whole area is undulating with thick vegetation. Has both wild growth as well as farms. Interestingly, the canal inside the base meant the movement of terrorists was restricted to one zone.
Anyone who thinks terrorists can be weeded out of this kind of terrain easily without danger or casualties has never played a game of hide and seek in his/her life. They were probably mug-pots/nerds/teacher's pets with a high opinion of themselves.

They need to be taught to play hide and seek where the hidden folk have Kalashnikovs

Indeed, playing hide and seek with pigs who have explosives on them is risky when done from the ground. They have an element of surprise. Need better automated surveillance.

vayu tuvan wrote:
VikramS wrote:
My point is that slain pigs too should be treated as a bomb. Let the robot disarm the jehadi; why does the HEAD of the bomb-disposal squad, a Lt. Col. no less have to go and disarm a dead jehadi?
Possible to use a long pole and move the body somewhat? Or is the objective to keep the body intact so that papers/GPS/phone can be recovered for forensics?

Lt Gen should not be sacrificing themselves so Babus can send dossiers.

And those who asked about the grip of robots; these days robotic assisted surgery tools can go deep into arteries and clean them up. Softness of grip etc can easily be controlled. And I would rather have a robot with an mechanical arm blown off, than the head of bomb disposal of the NSG martyred.

kenop · Post by **kenop** » 03 Jan 2016 22:40

Oh phukes.
I was out of reach of TV and usual channels of information. Just getting to know the details.
Local support is definitely a huge factor. It was there in 26/11 and certainly will be present here too.
Let us also not forget that this government will NOT give out unnecessary details until the moment things are under control. Else, presstitutes would have been going to town with "sources informed" type news.
So, do not despair. They'll do a better job that the previous one. Exchanging punches during the crisis and later tallying the score.

kulhari · Post by **kulhari** » 03 Jan 2016 22:44

according to pakistaniyat predictor - this attack was coming clearly after Lahore, However due to the supreme sacrifice by brave men on our side the terrorists have been thwarted from carrying out mehran type damage.

Lets wait for a few months... The way I see it - a massive retaliation is about to happen...rest assured

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 03 Jan 2016 22:45

VikramS they fight with what they have. they might not have robots at the base.

Move on. One more robot post you also get warned.

RoyG · Post by **RoyG** » 03 Jan 2016 22:46

Hitting our consulate now?

Target theirs in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal.

That'll keep the iron hot and give us some time to target some PA officers in Punjab.

kenop · Post by **kenop** » 03 Jan 2016 22:47

This afternoon I was driving back to the city and found a BDDS van in parallel for a little distance and got thinking about them and a particular Lt Col who became a hero of sorts in a situation in the city. Later that officer (while still in service) was seen in local page 3 parties reports. He retired a little later which too was reported on page 3. Well, he did get away with his life.
Salute to the martyred officer.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 03 Jan 2016 22:49

Kenop,
Why cryptic post? If you want to say something do it and not make people mind wander about whats in you mind.

sunilUpa · Post by **sunilUpa** » 03 Jan 2016 22:53

There was no lapse: Union home secy on Pathankot attack

The government said on Sunday two more terrorists were still holed up in the Pathankot air base and officials weren’t sure about the exact number of militants who ambushed the facility.
In the first official briefing after gunfire began, Union home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and director general of air operations in the Air Force, Air Marshal Anil Khosla, said four terrorists had been killed so far in the encounter with security personnel.
“We are sure that still there are at least two more terrorists as firing have come from two different places. But we are not sure whether there are some more. We will come to know the number of terrorists only after the completion of the operation and body count,” Mehrishi said.
Mehrishi said Salwinder Singh, a superintendent of police in Punjab who was kidnapped along with two others on Friday and was left off later, said that there were only four terrorists.
When asked whether there was any lapse while dealing with the terrorists as seven security personnel were killed despite having prior information, Mehrishi said: “There was no lapse. Some casualties are obvious when there is an operation in this scale.”
The two officials said there were seven casualties – six Indian Air Force personnel (including five Defence Security Corps(DSC) personnel and one Garuda commando), and one National Security Guard officer, Lt. Colonel Niranjan EK.
The home secretary said the team of the specialised force was waiting in Pathankot for the terrorists as the exact point of possible attack was not known.
“When they (terrorists) attacked the air base, the NSG team moved immediately,” he said.
Air Marshal Khosla said the main aim of the terrorists was defeated as they could not reach the technical area of the Pathnkot air base where high valued assets were kept.
“The first contact with the terrorists was made on Saturday morning at around 3.30 am. The terrorists were contained in an area where there is heavy growth and shrubs. The operation is now at a matured stage,” he said.
Khosla added that the operation was “slowed down” on Saturday after the killing of four terrorists as security forces were not sure whether there were more terrorists still at large.
Mehrishi said as of now it was suspected that Pakistan-bases terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad was involved in the attack.

SRoy · Post by **SRoy** » 03 Jan 2016 22:54

Some takeaways.

One, the attack seem to have been planned with high symbolism in mind, transfer for Mi-35s. What is surprising is the cost incurred by us. From PA's PoV this is a good way to inflict enormous cost on us vis-a-vis our defensive posture.

Two, we also need to think of smaller far flung military facilities that are less hardened. SUs and RUs. Any attack on these will cause loss of lives as well as equipments.

Ideally the entire internal security paraphernalia needs to get overhauled. Too many outfits, each not knowing what others are doing.

kenop · Post by **kenop** » 03 Jan 2016 22:55

Indeed I saw this van (when I did not know all details of situation in Pkt).
Bomb disposal is a difficult job. The officer I mentioned (not taking his name here) indeed did a good job and people loved him for that and took notice of his service. Another officer was not too lucky in the same situation.
Please forgive my rambling.
No hidden meanings. Page 3 ref was not meant to be sarcastic/derogatory.

rohitvats · Post by **rohitvats** » 03 Jan 2016 23:01

If the 5th terrorist was killed/holed up in a building opposite Akalgarh village, it can mean one of two things:

1. Terrorist from team which entered in southern part made his way there. But that means he covered a lot of ground. And at some point would've had to cross the canal which passes through the base. Seems very unlikely.

2. Second possibility is that he's from 2nd team which entered from this side. Remember, the SUV was abandoned in a village immediately west of Akalgarh. What also might have happened is that this second group could not cross over to main technical area after initial infiltration. There is a canal which separates the main technical area from fence west of it. GE shows only one bridge leading to other side ( bridge connects directly to civil airport part).

In the night, terrorists could've missed it. And could not swim over (even if they knew how to) because of weapon load.

Quite possible that southern attack was a diversion and this team attacking from west was meant to go straight to the jugular. But it missed the crucial bridge and went into taking over building in the area.

Awaiting more details.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 03 Jan 2016 23:03

RV and RR thanks for being on this thread....

Surya · Post by **Surya** » 03 Jan 2016 23:16

Rohit

that also couldmean its more than 1 or 2

there could have been 2 x 4 man teams

kenop · Post by **kenop** » 03 Jan 2016 23:22

The area is much easier to infiltrate as compared to Kashmir now as reported here (ref Gen Ata Hussnain). We have a precedent of Gurdaspur, so it makes it clear where they would open the frontier.
Narot Jaimal Singh is sort of last post to Pakhanastan from our side. I had the opportunity to see the border area from near NJS long time ago when reaching it was a longer route through Kathua. Now, there are better connections towards Gurdaspur (somebody I know has been able to make many trips from Amritsar side to NJS only in last few years meeting old friends. This was the place where they stayed first after leaving Pakistan).
As mentioned by others, the whole stretch from Pkt to Jammu is a virtual cantonment as there are IA units on either side of the road all the way. The situation is a little bit similar up to Dasuya towards south with multiple IA stations on the way.
Chakki river is generally dry and never too deep as far as I recall. The Madhopur canal used to have a lot of flow earlier. In May 2015, last I was in the area it wasn't much flow (summers would be drier).
I wonder if they were looking for Beli Akalian side where a lot of assets seems to be placed. Also it seems the a/c have to take a bridge to reach the runway.
Looks quite vulnerable. In our childhood I heard stories of the aircraft being parked underground at Pkt base and their being taken out from some hidden passages for taking off etc.
Also worrisome that AAP can have greater influence on this region within a couple of years.

Screambowl · Post by **Screambowl** » 03 Jan 2016 23:39

They wanted to give the message, that good relations or bad relations. Pakistan armed forces will not stop their old policy with India, due to obvious reasons.

Y. Kanan · Post by **Y. Kanan** » 03 Jan 2016 23:43

Spinster wrote:Ok since people don't like song and dance

So in all 5 idiots trained have cost

Senior officers and Jawans in all 12

The cost of equipment and dispenpensable supples

A very economical operation by TSP

By going to war costs will only go up so

TALK is cheap and better option

Let talks continue

And that is the way it shall be.

Peopke like to pretend India has options. We don't. Pakis have nukes since 1980's and we missed our chance. Now we might as well get used to terror as one of the intrinsic costs of being Indian.

krishna_krishna · Post by **krishna_krishna** » 03 Jan 2016 23:54

^^ I disagree its question of political will. Let me give you just a sample that anti aircraft gun was used last year to obliterate a pakki post in full media glare and thats just one sample

krishna_krishna · Post by **krishna_krishna** » 03 Jan 2016 23:57

New naval base in balochistan could be attacked to take out some P3's their tit for tat, I hear our consulate in afghanistan is also attacked.
To me this is message that talks or no we will continue with our plan to attack you slowly , stop us if you can. And this can be stopped its just response has to be ver severe three attacks to one bump up the cost on them. If you chicken you get your regular insult doses.

sunilUpa · Post by **sunilUpa** » 04 Jan 2016 00:06

Rohit,
There was a report of a Taxi being hired and the driver killed. That may be the second team, while the first team kidnapped the SP.

Shameek · Post by **Shameek** » 04 Jan 2016 00:09

I have been reading the western media reports of this attack. Few things stand out:
- No mention of the word 'terrorism' in reports.
- The terrorists are always labeled as 'gunmen'.
- Each article has the disclaimer below:

India says the group is backed by Pakistan, but Islamabad denies this.

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 04 Jan 2016 00:11

VikramS wrote:
And those who asked about the grip of robots; these days robotic assisted surgery tools can go deep into arteries and clean them up. Softness of grip etc can easily be controlled. And I would rather have a robot with an mechanical arm blown off, than the head of bomb disposal of the NSG martyred.

That's just incorrect. Those medical robots are in operating rooms. Not portable units which have the flexibility and articulated digits like C3PO.
http://www.tumotech.com/wp-content/uplo ... 20x340.jpg

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 04 Jan 2016 00:13

Guys, no more drivel about robots, please!

Ramana has already requested multiple times to various folks to cease and desist talking about various tangential topics. Now if people don't listen, banning will start immediately.

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 04 Jan 2016 00:15

Actually we need a team to do something like this for all our key bases.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Cell

If we are not doing it already. The Pakis will keep escalating till we don't hit back via 10x covert ops or border ops.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 04 Jan 2016 00:16

kenop, Tell me more about NJS. We are ignoring a major thing here. If NJS is last point on the border what was the SP doing there?

I think the SP carjack story is all hogwash.
The SP went to pick up the perpetrators who he thought were usual drug smugglers. Meanwhile at 3:00 AM the 'drug smugglers' turned out to be terrorists and dumped him. Didn't kill him as he was a compromised asset.

Man Singh and SBajwa please what are your thoughts?

SunilUpa could very well be as its now clear there were two teams. We are looking for single explanation to the events.

So taxi hijack is another team.

RV?

kit · Post by **kit** » 04 Jan 2016 00:16

http://reut.rs/1PFOQvi

Indian embassy in Afghanistan under attack

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 04 Jan 2016 00:17

shiv wrote:
SwamyG wrote:Again I ask how were they able to ingress? Why isn't the outer perimeter not able to push back 7 or 8 terrorists?
Please take a look at the terrain around the airbase on Google earth and you get an idea of its overall defensibility. The base occupies 25 square km and has rivers and nullahs across the outer perimeter. I repeat - imagine yourself playing hide and seek in that terrain at night.

I am not an expert, but I did google before posing that question. I got the coordinates from Wikipedia (32° 14′ 1″ N, 75° 38′ 4″ E - public data). Why create a base in an indefensible area (or a place with vulnerabilities). There must be places close to border that can match up, right?

Am I naïve to expect that military bases should not be prone to infiltration by a small group of people (7-8)? Serious question. That is why I also asked about the cost of monitoring the perimeter. What is the state of art technologies used to protect such perimeters?

I am sorry and embarrassed if I got the coordinates wrong.

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 04 Jan 2016 00:18

A couple of things that should be kept in mind.

I read a news article somewhere that the helicopters India gifted to Afghanistan was from Pathankot. Also Indian consulate at Mazar-i-Sharif has been attacked today. Recall that previous indian consulate attack was traced back to ISI. This is a very clear op to attack India for India's actions in Afghanistan. It has nothing to do with recent uptick in relationship. I am afraid that next the Pakis are going to attack the Afghan parliament building (that India built).

We need some kind of leverage to deter this afghanistan nonsense that Pakis are upto.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 04 Jan 2016 00:20

India located folks, are ops still gong on?

VikramS · Post by **VikramS** » 04 Jan 2016 00:23

ramana wrote:VikramS they fight with what they have. they might not have robots at the base.

Move on. One more robot post you also get warned.

What I am questioning is what they have to fight with. If NSG can be flown in, so can be specialized equipment.

Countless hours are spent here discussing multi-billion dollar arm deals when a few million can make a big impact on how these situations can be tackled.

No one on this board can go to Pathankot; we can certainly provide ideas to make things better.

krishna_krishna · Post by **krishna_krishna** » 04 Jan 2016 00:25

Still going on