Terrorists are hiding in villages close to the "vulnerable" Pathankot airbase, which can come under fresh attack from them, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs said on Tuesday.
The Pakistani team investigating the Pathankot terror attack will complete its probe this week, a top official said on Monday, days after three suspects in the high-profile case were remanded to police custody.
In view of the threat perception, the Delhi Police is on the highest level of alert to secure the national capital.
Pathankot Senior Superintendent of Police R K Bakshi said that sleuths found that the bag contained uniform, shoes and other articles of an Army jawan who had left it behind.
According to sources, the NIA is trying to collect more information like Jaish-e-Mohammad as a terrorist organisation and its role in the attack.
The operation to fully sanitise the Pathankot base, which was attacked by six terrorists last Saturday, is in its final phase.
In Punjab, farmers sat on railway tracks at many locations in 22 districts, including Amritsar, Ludhiana, Tarn Taran, Hoshiarpur, Firozpur, Fazilka, Sangrur, Mansa, Moga and Bathinda. Because of the disruption of train services, passengers experienced inconvenience.
The government on Tuesday announced that only four terrorists had entered the Pathankot Air Force station to carry out the strike that left eight people dead. This is contrary to a statement made by Home Minister Rajnath Singh on March 4 when he had said that charred remains, apart from four bodies of terrorists, were found at the debris after security forces searched the Pathankot airforce station when the operation ended.
The move comes barely a few days before the Special Investigation Team of Pakistan visits here to ascertain the facts of the case and investigation carried out by the NIA.
Air Commodore J S Dhamoon, who was commanding the Pathankot air force base when it was attacked by heavily armed terrorists last year, has taken pre-mature retirement from service.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday visited the strategic Pathankot Air Force base for a first-hand assessment of the situation in the aftermath of the terror attack last Saturday.
Senior Punjab Police officer Salwinder Singh, who was being probed by the NIA in connection with Pathankot terror strike, was given a clean chit by the National Investigation Agency after the scientific tests including the lie-detector test found nothing adverse against him, according to official sources.
Pakistan was "cooperating closely" with India on the investigations in a terror attack case on a key air force base in Pathankot earlier this year, the country's top diplomat has said.
Since combing operations in the forest near the base have not helped the security forces to find any vehicle used by the second team of terrorists, it is assumed that a local Jaish-e-Mohammed unit must have dropped them close to the base.
Given the magnitude of the operation of the air base, the operation will continue to be concluded till we are able to fully render the base safe.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has ordered formation of a high-profile joint investigation team to investigate the links of the Pathankot air base attackers with Pakistan, a media report said on Monday.
India is yet to receive a formal communication from Pakistan about a proposed visit by a team of investigators from that country to inspect the site of the Pathankot terror attack, a senior government official said today.
A day after its return from India, the Pakistani Joint Investigation Team probing the Pathankot attack claimed that Indian authorities "failed" to provide evidence
'The Pakistani JIT's visit is the first ever experiment by the two South Asian neighbours to probe a terror attack 'jointly.' Well, it is not unlike the scenario wherein the thief himself is made an investigator,' says Rajeev Sharma.
'Inept handling by the National Security Advisor transformed what should have been a short counter-terrorist operation in Pathankot into an apparent debacle.'
The fresh Red Corner notice was issued after the National Investigation Agency secured an 'open-ended' non-bailable warrant against Azhar and Rauf for allegedly conspiring to carry out terror strike on the strategic Indian Air Force base at Pathankot on the intervening night of January 1 and 2.
Subedar Fateh Singh, a 51-year-old Army man who lost his life during combing operations at the Indian Air Force base near Punjab's Pathankot town on Saturday, had won a gold and a silver medal at the first Commonwealth Shooting Championships held in Delhi in 1995.
'In this Spy versus Soldier game,' says Rajeev Sharma, 'the two sides will size up each other like never before.'
Nitin Gokhale reports on how quick decisions saved a repeat of a Mumbai-like carnage at the key Punjab air force base.
Pakistan Today quoting a source close to the JIT, said the JIT report concluded that the Indian authorities had prior information about the attackers
India has sought help of the United States in probing the Pathankot airbase terror attack.
He also said it was for India to decide on dates for Foreign Secretary-level talks, postponed in the wake of the terror strike.
The anti-terror probe agency's chief Sharad Kumar said help of Pakistan will be sought in solving the Pathankot terror attack case.
India is yet to receive visa applications from Pakistan's special investigation team members who are supposed to visit the country to probe the Pathankot terror attack, Indian government sources said.
The NIA had on Tuesday said that it expected cooperation from Islamabad for tracing the perpetrators of the Pathankot attack, saying it was clear that the terrorists were from Pakistan on the basis of the calls they made.
Sharif said Pakistan would not allow anyone to use its soil to carry out terror operations abroad.
He said the JeM handler, who is in his late 20s, was in the tribal area of Pakistan when he communicated around 18 times with the terrorists.
The terrorists who had stormed the Pathankot air base were "well trained" and "strongly stocked" with arms and ammunitions to inflict heavy damage to the assets stationed there and that explains the long counter-terror operations going on against them, top government sources said.
The team's movement would be restricted only to the area of the engagement between security forces and the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists.
However, a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra refrained from handing over the probe to the CBI and directed that the trial be fast-tracked to ensure there was no delay.
Punjab, which faced two terror attacks in six months, on Sunday announced deployment of a commando battalion and a special SWAT team in Pathankot as a "second line of defence" and also sought deployment of more Border Security Force troops along the state's border with Pakistan.
The attack had a negative impact and disturbed the talks with India which were 'going in the right direction' after the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, he said.
A route often used by drug smugglers was apparently followed by terrorists to infiltrate into the border state of Punjab and unleash the deadly attack on the Pathankot IAF base.
Security officials said on Wednesday that the combing operations may continue for a day or two at the forward base.
The Pakistani investigation team needs more evidence to take the investigation forward and hence, has written to the government to speak to India and apprise them of the situation.
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