What we know about the attack on

miles) from capital Delhi and 100km east of the border with Pakistan, the Bathinda Military Station is one of the largest army bases in India.

The base serves as a vital operational and logistics base for Indian army units in Punjab and parts of the neighbouring Rajasthan state.

What happened?

The army said the attack occurred 4:35am (2305 GMT Tuesday) on Wednesday when the soldiers were sleeping in their rooms.

The four soldiers succumbed to gunshot injuries sustained during the firing.

A police investigation was opened based on the statement given by Major Ashutosh Shukla, who said he had caught a glimpse of the shooters.

In his statement, Major Shukla said he rushed to the spot after a soldier informed him that there had been a firing in the officers’ mess.

He said he saw two men “of medium height and good build” armed with a rifle and an axe fleeing from the site of the attack. The men wore kurta-pyjamas and had their faces covered with a cloth, he said in the complaint. authorities have intensified the execution for non-political charges. These are the low-cost victims of the Islamic Republic’s execution machine.”

At the barracks, Major Shukla said he saw the bodies of two soldiers in one room and two more bodies in the adjacent room. All four of them had bullet marks, he said.

“We also found that a large number cartridges of the Insas rifle scattered in the rooms, which belongs to an open-ended Insas rifle,” he said in the complaint, adding that one such rifle had been reported missing from their unit two days previously.

On Wednesday evening, the army said it had recovered the missing rifle along with its magazine and that it would be subjected to a forensic analysis.

“The number of rounds (unused) in the weapon will only be available after forensic analysis. The joint investigation with Punjab police is in progress,” it said.

What is the police saying?