Israeli Trained Indian SWAT Team Ends Terror Siege at Gurdaspur Police Station

THE ALGEMEINER – An Indian SWAT team behind the neutralization of an apparent terrorist siege at a police station near the Pakistan border in the Punjab state was putting the skills it gained from Israeli training to the test for the first time, The Indian Express reported on Tuesday.

The team of 28 commandos were “were among the 80 personnel who were selected for being trained by a special team from the Security and Protection Training School, Israel, in 2010,” said the report, adding that this was the first major operation since their training in 2010.

“This was their first operation since they were trained. And they have done well,” said a senior Indian intelligence officer, according to the report.

Their job was to flush the terrorists out of the police station in the city of Gurdaspur, where the Punjab commandos joined a SWAT team from northern Indian Jammu and Kashmir state as well.

The SWAT teams eventually killed the three terrorists who stormed the station, Indian media reported, but not before they claimed the lives of three civilians and three police officers. Pakistan condemned the attack.

The Israeli training underscores increasing ties between India and the Jewish state, especially regarding counter-terrorism and security. Indian President Pranab Mukherjee will become the first head of state in India to visit Israel, in October.