After Prime Minister Narendra Modi today chaired a meeting of the National Security Council, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that bodies of four terrorists have been recovered and those of the remaining two will also be recovered.
The number of intruders had been put at six by officials in the last two days and the figures given by Jaitley implied that all of them have been eliminated. However, none in the government were prepared to say no more terrorists were inside the base or that the operation was over.
Jaitley, who attended the NSC meeting along with senior cabinet colleagues Sushma Swaraj and Manohar Parrikar, said that all the assets at the base were safe.
He said the security forces were able to confine the terrorists to the place where they intruded and kept at a "reasonable distance" from where the assets were located.
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In the wake of the Pathankot attack as well as the strike on the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan, both probably originating in Pakistan, indications were that next week's scheduled visit by Foreign Secretary Jaishankar to Islamabad for talks will be put off.
Asked whether the foreign secretaries would meet as scheduled, Jaitley parried the question, remarking "The operations are still on. Let the operations be over. Then we will take decisions on these matters.