NEW DELHI (AFP): Four soldiers were shot dead Wednesday in a pre-dawn incident at a military base in northern India, an army statement said.
The incident was reported around 4:35 am (1105 GMT) at the Bathinda military station in Punjab, a northern state where tensions have been high over the local resurgence of a separatist movement.
“The area continues to be sealed off and joint investigations with Punjab Police are being coordinated to establish the facts of the case,” the army statement said.
Bathinda’s top police official GS Khurana told broadcaster NDTV that the incident did not appear to be a terror attack.
State police and India’s defence ministry did not respond to AFP requests for comment.
Punjab has been on the edge since last month when authorities launched a manhunt for firebrand Sikh separatist preacher Amritpal Singh.
Singh has in recent months rallied a huge following by demanding the creation of Khalistan, a separate Sikh homeland, the struggle for which sparked deadly violence in Punjab in the 1980s and 1990s.
He remains at large after eluding despite a huge police dragnet involving thousands of police officers and a statewide internet shutdown that lasted for several days.
Recent attacks on Indian military
Following are the major attacks on Indian military bases in the last few years:
Aug 2022 – Fighters attack an Indian army post in Rajouri in the disputed Kashmir region, killing three soldiers.
Feb 2019 – A suicide bomber rammed a car into a bus carrying Indian paramilitary police, killing 44 of them in the deadliest attack in decades on security forces in Occupied Kashmir.
Nov 2016 – Militants attacked an army base at Nagrota near Jammu city, killing seven security personnel and taking hostages in the military base.
Sept 2016 – Four gunmen burst into a brigade headquarters in the town of Uri in the disputed Himalayan region, killing 18 Indian soldiers.
Jan 2016 – Indian security forces killed six militants who launched an assault on a military air base in Pathankot in Punjab that killed seven security personnel and injured 22.
