Gunmen storm police station in Punjab, India tightens security on Pakistan border

NEW DELHI: India tightened security on its border with Pakistan on Monday after gunmen stormed a police station in the northern Indian state of Punjab, killing at least one person and injuring five.

Officials denied earlier TV reports that the gunmen took hostages in the attack, which also hit a bus station.

"They fired indiscriminantly on the way to the police station, killed at least one policeman and injured five," said Harcharan Bains, an advisor to Punjab's chief minister.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh said he had spoken to the head of India's Border Security Force and "instructed him to step up the vigil on India-Pakistan border".

"I am confident that the situation will soon be brought under control," he tweeted.

Bains said a group of about five attackers came in a white Suzuki-Maruti hatchback car, dressed in army uniforms.

Five bombs were also found on a railway track in the state where Indian fought a deadly Sikh insurgency in the 1980s.

The men were thought to have sneaked in from the neighbouring state of Jammu and Kashmir, NDTV said. The police station they stormed was in Gurdaspur district, which borders Pakistan.

Television footage showed a white Maruti car with its windshield peppered with bullet holes, and broken glass and bullet casings on the passenger seat. What appeared to be improvised explosive devices on railway tracks, were also shown.