New Delhi: Four soldiers were shot dead in a pre-dawn incident at an army base in northern India on Wednesday, an army statement said.
The incident was reported at 4:35 a.m. (1105 GMT) at the Bathinda military station in the northern state of Punjab, where tensions are high over the local revival of the separatist movement.
“The area is being sealed off and a joint investigation with the Punjab Police is being coordinated to ascertain the facts of the matter,” an army statement said.
Bathinda’s top police official GS Khurana told JEE News that the incident does not appear to be a terrorist attack.
State police and India’s defense ministry did not respond to JEE News requests for comment.
Punjab has been on edge since last month when authorities launched a search for Sikh separatist preacher Amrit Pal Singh.
Singh has amassed a large following in recent months calling for Khalistan, a separate homeland for Sikhs whose struggle sparked deadly violence in Punjab in the 1980s and 1990s.
Despite thousands of police officers and a statewide internet blackout that lasted for several days, he remains on the run after escaping.
