Gunmen attack Indian police station in Punjab

Police station in Punjab attacked by Gunmen, leaving some five people killed

Security has been stepped up after the attack in the Punjab district
Security has been stepped up after the attack in the Punjab district

According to Al Jazeera, Indian security forces are battling gunmen who stormed a police station in northern Punjab state, close to the border with Pakistan.

The attackers first hijacked a car, then opened fire at a bus station before entering a police station in Gurdaspur district, officials said.

Reports show that five people have been killed and at least six wounded so far, but details of the event are still emerging.

A police spokesman at the scene in the northern state of Punjab told Al Jazeera he had witnessed one security officer being shot, and at least six people had been injured in the ongoing siege.

"We now have reports of at least three dead civilians besides the one police home guard jawan [officer] who was killed earlier," police spokesman Rajvinder Singh told AFP news agency by phone from the town of Gurdaspur.

The attackers are believed to be from Indian-administered Kashmir, he added.

Such assaults are reportedly common in restive Indian-administered Kashmir, but attacks in neighbouring Punjab are extremely rare. Security forces have been sent to the area as reinforcements.