Village where SP’s vehicle was found, Close shave with terror leaves Akalgarh shaken

The residents of Akalgarh, where the Mahindra XUV of Punjab Police Superintendent Salwinder Singh snatched by the terrorists was found abandoned, are shaken at the thought that the terrorists came so close to their village.

Akalgarh, adjoining the Pathankot air force station, could hear the sounds of fighting, gunfire and intermittent blasts during the attack. “Going by the scale of the attack, the terrorists would have caused havoc in our village. We shudder to think what would have happened had they decided to target us,” said Ashok Kumar, a local resident.

“It is apparent that the terrorists, if they wanted, could have destroyed the whole village,” said Ravinder, the sarpanch’s husband. The village has a population of nearly 1,200.

Ravinder runs a grocery store just outside the main settlement, a stone’s throw from where the SP’s car was found. Security personnel have been guarding the area since Saturday. Locals have been providing them with tea and meals.