The sounds of gunfire woke up residents of Dinanagar early Monday morning as terrorists, clad in army uniform, attacked a bus and a police station complex. The attack resulted in the death of five persons, including a policeman, after snatching a car.
As the news broke, people living near the police station largely remained indoors. Dinanagar is the third largest town in Gurdaspur district.
Kamaljeet Singh Matharu, a resident, said that the heavily armed assailants, wearing army uniform, snatched his Maruti 800 car after firing at him. He received gunshot injuries and is currently in a hospital.
Jatinder Kumar, an employee of Punjab Health Department, came to know about the incident at about 6:15 AM.
“Then I went upstairs in my house and heard the sound of bullet firing,” he said, adding soon a large police force and then army personnel arrived in the area.
There is fear among the people after they came to know about the attack. We can hear the sound of firing going on at the police station between the security personnel and the attackers.
– Kumar, Dinanagar Resident
Kumar’s house is just 500 metres away from the Dinanagar police station.
Officials said that schools, colleges and other institutions have been ordered to be shut in the town.
Both Jatinder and his wife, who work in Punjab’s Internal Audit Department, said they decided not to go to their respective offices following the attack.
Our son, who is a student of Class VIII, has also not gone to school as the district administration announced closure of educational institutions for the day.
– Jatinder, Dinanagar Resident
Varinder Kumar, another resident of the district said the security forces have cordoned off the area around the police station and set up check-points.
I heard the sound of gunfire. They (attackers) stole the car of one of the injured persons. I saw them driving away in the car. They went towards the police station. There were a very few people since it was early in the morning. They fired about three rounds initially. They were firing as they drove off. The person who died worked at the eatery.
– Naval, Eyewitness
Meanwhile, security forces in Punjab and neighbouring Haryana have gone on high alert in the wake of the attack, about three weeks ahead of the Independence Day.