This story has been updated here.
A gun battle is currently underway in the northern Indian state of Punjab.
On the morning of July 27, suspected militants, in army uniforms, attacked a police station and fired at a bus in Gurdaspur district, which borders Pakistan.
Six people have been killed and ten others wounded, according to TV reports. A police officer has told the Associated Press that the attackers are believed to have come from Indian-administered Kashmir.
The Indian government has roped in its army, the National Security Guard (NSG) and its Quick Response Teams to assist the police in the counter-attack. Baljit Singh, Gurdaspur’s superintendent of police, has already been killed in the fierce counter-operation, according to TV reports. Five bombs were also found on the Pathankot-Amritsar railway track.
Punjab has been the target of terrorist attacks since the early 1980s, largely by Sikh militant groups demanding an independent homeland, Khalistan. In 1983, at least 175 people were killed in the state in various terrorist incidents. After this, the central government dismissed the state government and took direct control, imposing President’s rule, which lasted for nearly two years.
Gurdaspur itself has witnessed several terror attacks before. In 1988, Gurdaspur was among the three places—including Hoshiarpur and Patiala—where bombs attacks killed 120 persons.
In July, the deputy chief minister said Punjab is the most “peaceful” state in the country, and there was no “threat of terrorism” to it.