Bathinda Firing: What we know about attack at key Indian army base

BBC News:

Police in India are searching for unidentified shooters after a firing at a military base in the border state of Punjab killed four soldiers.

The soldiers were shot at the military station in Bathinda on Wednesday.

Police say the incident, which took place in the base’s barracks, was “not a terror attack”.

No arrests have been made yet, but the army said it had found an assault rifle believed to have been used in the firing.

Ajay Gandhi, a senior police officer from Bathinda who is heading the investigation, told Reuters that a police complaint has been filed based on a statement of an army personnel, which refers to the involvement of “two unknown people” in the attack.

A combing operation was underway all of Wednesday as authorities sealed the military station, set up barricades and deployed drones to locate the assailants.

Located about 280 km (175 miles) from capital Delhi and 100 km east of the border with Pakistan, the Bathinda Military Station is one of the country’s largest military stations.

The base serves as a vital operational and logistics base for Indian army units in Punjab and parts of the neighbouring Rajasthan state.