Four persons have been killed in a shooting incident at the Bathinda Military Station in Punjab early on Wednesday morning.
“A firing incident was reported in the early hours of the morning around 4.35 am inside the Bathinda Military Station. Station Quick Reaction Teams were activated. The area was cordoned off and sealed,” a senior officer said.
Meanwhile, the Punjab Police have termed it as a ‘fratricidal incident’.
Punjab’s Additional Director General of Police, SPS Parmar said, “It is not a terrorist attack, it is not an attack from outside. It is a fratricidal incident”.
A search operation is in progress and a high alert has been sounded. Besides the Ministry of Defence and Army Headquarters, the police and sister agencies have also been intimated about the incident.
Bathinda is an important military installation and houses the headquarters of 10 Corps, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Jaipur-based South Western Command.
The station is also home to a large number of operational Army units and other static establishments.
According to sources, the incident took place near the officers’ mess of an artillery unit based at the station.
Initial reports point the incident to be a case of fratricide. Sources said that an INSAS rifle from the unit and some rounds of ammunition had gone missing from the unit premises two days ago.
“A court of inquiry will investigate the entire matter to establish the facts of the case and fix responsibility,” an officer said.
