Operation to secure Pathankot air base continues - IAF

Indian security personnel place a barricade on a road outside the Indian Air Force (IAF) base at Pathankot in Punjab, January 3, 2016. REUTERS/Mukesh Gupta

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The operation continues to secure the Pathankot air base after a militant attack on Saturday, the Indian Air Force (IAF) said on Sunday, while the government said it could not yet confirm that two remaining gunmen had been eliminated. "The area cannot be declared fully sanitised," Air Marshal Anil Khosla told a news briefing in New Delhi. Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi told reporters in New Delhi that four gunmen had been confirmed killed and he hoped the two still at large would be "neutralised" by evening. Without recovering their bodies they could not be confirmed dead. (See pictures http://in.reuters.com/news/picture/pathankot-iaf-base-attacked?articleId=INRTX20RNY | See graphic on location of air base here http://reut.rs/1mxiE1F) A total of seven military personnel were killed and 20 injured in the pre-dawn attack on the Pathankot air base that lies 25 km from the border with Pakistan. (Reporting by Krista Mahr; Writing by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Alison Williams)