Search has been on at Pathankot for four men in army fatigues.
Pathankot, where a terror attack claimed the lives of 7 military personnel in January, is on alert as police received reports that four suspicious men in army fatigues have been seen in the area. A massive search operation is on, during which the police found army uniforms, caps and belts dumped near some bushes.
The men, a woman caller had told the police, were seen near Chakki Khadd on Pathankot-Himachal border. The Punjab officials have alerted their counterparts in Himachal Pradesh.
An alert has been sounded on the Pathankot-Dalhousie road and Jallandhar-Pathankot highway where key defence installations are located. Around 400 security personnel including SWAT team, have been deployed for conducting the search operation. The army has also been alerted and there is heightened vigil, the police said.
"There was a specific input about the presence of some suspicious men roaming around on Pathankot-Dalhousie road. Following this, a massive search operation has been launched here," news agency Press Trust of India quoted senior police officer Rakesh Kaushal as saying.
The entire area had been put on alert after last Sunday's terror strike at Kashmir's Uri and the army brass had reviewed the operational preparedness of the troops stationed there.
In January, an attack at the Pathankot air base by Pakistani terrorists had claimed the lives of seven military personnel. Four terrorists, who were out to target the assets at the base, were killed after an operation that lasted nearly 80 hours.
The terrorists, who were from Jaish-e Mohammad, had sneaked into India a few days before the attack, investigators suspected.
On September 25, the Punjab Police and the Border Security Forces had jointly carried out a search operation and flag march in villages near India-Pakistan border to thwart any infiltration attempt by intruders from across the border.