On January 2 this year, suspected Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists in army fatigues attacked the high security Pathankot Air Force base. All the militants were killed in the attack in which seven defence personnel also lost their lives.
That is an incident not likely to be forgotten easily. But there have been other incidents in Punjab, most of them political murders, that have kept citizens in a state of fear. Here are five such instances.
On January 18, two unidentified assailants fired on RSS leader Naresh Kumar in Ludhiana. he was injured in the attack.
On February 16, Deepak, son of Shiv Sena leader Vinay Jalandhari was shot and injured in Jalandhar.
On April 4, Chand Kaur, wife of former head of the Namdhari sect late Satguru Jagjit Singh was shot dead by two unidentified bike-borne assailants at the Bhaini Sahib Gurdwara complex near Ludhiana.
On April 23, two unidentified motorcycle borne assailants gunned down Punjab Shiv Sena Leader Durga Parsad Gupta in Khanna.
On August 7, two motorcycle borne assailants shot at vice-president of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Punjab, Brig Jagdish Gagneja (Retd), in Jalandhar. He died in hospital after a month.