A high alert was sounded in Punjab’s Pathankot after suspicious persons were spotted in the city on Tuesday, PTI reported. Around 400 security personnel including special weapons and tactics units were deployed to conduct search operations in the immediate area, officials said. “[The] Area has been cordoned off on Pathankot-Dalhousie road to locate suspects,” Pathankot Senior Superintendent of Police Rakesh Kaushal said. The Army was also alerted to the situation, according to the report.

Security forces in the area have been on high alert since militants attacked an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot on January 2. Six security personnel were killed in the conflict that lasted 17 hours. India has maintained that the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed militant outfit was responsible for the assault, and has demanded the arrest of its chief, Masood Azhar.

New Delhi has blamed the same group for carrying out the September 18 attack on an Army base which killed 18 soldiers in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir. Relations between India and Pakistan have worsened following the two incidents.