Slain IAF commandos were part of 1st batch attached to Army for anti-terror training

NEW DELHI: After the terrorist attack on the Pathankot air force base last year, a decision was taken to enhance the training of the IAF Special Forces known as ‘Garuds’, which entailed training them with the Army on counter terrorist operations.

The first batch of these commandos had arrived in Jammu and Kashmir for the training, which witnessed the killing of two of the commandos in a counter-terrorist operation in Bandipora on Wednesday. In January last year, heavily armed terrorists had stormed and attacked the strategic Pathankot air base, killing seven security personnel, including a Garud commando.

Although the Garuds had fought against the terrorists, the National Security Guard (NSG) was brought in which led to the killing of all the terrorists. Later, an IAF Court of Inquiry into the attack revealed several security lapses, including the inability of the IAF commandos to initially pin down and isolate the attackers, who had entered the base by scaling the perimeterwall.