Air base attack threatens Indo Pak rapprochement

(MENAFN- Arab News) PATHANKOT India/NEW DELHI: A rapprochement effort between India and Pakistan appeared to be in jeopardy on Monday as Indian security forces battled for the third day to clear out militants who attacked one of its air bases and killed seven soldiers.

The foreign secretaries of the nuclear-armed neighbors are due to meet for talks on Jan. 15 building on a thaw in relations after a surprise visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif last month.
But an Indian government official said India was now considering whether to go ahead with the talks or not and that a final decision will be taken once the operations to secure the Pathankot Air Force base in Punjab state are over.
The government official who requested anonymity said it could take another 48 hours for the base to be secured and by then the government hoped to have more information about the attackers and what links they may have to Pakistan if any.
On Monday the United Jihad Council an alliance of more than a dozen pro-Pakistan militant groups based in Pakistan-administered Kashmir claimed responsibility for the air base attack according to a statement from the group's spokesman.
'The attack is a message by Mujahideen (militants) that no sensitive installation of India is out of our reach' said UJC spokesman Syed Sadaqat Hussain in a statement a copy of which was seen by Reuters.
The attack on the base which started before dawn on Saturday is a rare targeting of an Indian military installation outside of the disputed Kashmir region.
Indian security forces have killed five militants involved in the attack said Major General Dushyant Singh of India's counter-terrorism force the National Security Guard at a briefing on Monday.
But gunfire could still be heard at the base on the third day of operations. It was unclear how many militants remained at large if any.
As well as the seven Indian security personnel killed 22 had been wounded.
'Operations will continue to be conducted until we can render the base fully safe' said Singh.
Pakistan has condemned the attack and said it wanted to build on the goodwill created by the impromptu meeting between Modi and Sharif last month.
Indian security officials have given conflicting accounts on whether the attackers at the Pathankot air base were still active after Home Minister Rajnath Singh declared on Saturday evening that they had been 'neutralized.'
A senior federal government official said earlier on Monday that two militants hiding in the administrative block of the base had been killed on Sunday but authorities had yet to recover the bodies. The official said six militants had been killed and at least one attacker remains.
'But every inch of the air base has to be secured before we call off the operation' said the official in New Delhi who requested anonymity.