This Article is From Jan 12, 2016

'Suspicious' Men Spark Scare in Punjab's Ferozepur, Turn Out to Be Soldiers

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All India Reported by , Edited by

The Army has been alerted and extra police forces have been rushed to the area; search operations are being conducted (Representational image)

Ferozepur:

A call from a villager about "suspicious" men in military fatigues sparked a brief scare at the army cantonment in Punjab's border district of Ferozepur. Until it emerged that the two men were soldiers checking communication lines.

The caller, the police said, did not identify himself.

The Army was alerted and extra police forces were sent to search the area. The alert was soon called off.

Security forces have spent days combing through thick sugarcane fields after a similar alert from villagers around the Tibri military cantonment in Punjab's Gurdaspur district, which like Ferozepur, borders Pakistan.  

The villagers in Gurdaspur, which is 160 km from Ferozepur, too had reported two men in uniform "moving around suspiciously" in a village not far from the Tibri cantonment.  

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Gurdaspur is about 40 km from Pathankot, where six Pakistani terrorists dressed in Army fatigues attacked an air force base on January 2. The terrorists were eliminated after an 80-hour gun battle.

Seven security personnel were martyred and 20 were injured.

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Security has been tightened around all military installations in the country after the Pathankot attack.
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