Indian police station attack kills 10

Bullet holes are seen on the windscreen of a car that was damaged in a gunfight in Dinanagar town in Gurdaspur district of Punjab, India, July 27, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir - At least 10 people including four policemen and three civilians were killed, and seven others wounded Monday in an attack on a police station in northern Indian state of Punjab, officials said.

India's official broadcaster All India Radio (AIR) said the 12- hour long gun battle at Dinanagar police station in Gurdaspur district ended Monday evening with the killing of three attackers.

The slain policemen included a senior police officer Baljit Singh.

"Four police personnel including Superintendent of Police Baljit Singh laid down their lives fighting attackers who were holed up in the police station since about 5:30 in the morning," the state-run broadcaster reported.

"Three civilians including a woman have also lost their lives, besides, seven others wounded in attack are recuperating in hospitals."

Reports said the gunmen wearing military uniforms first fired on a bus wounding six passengers and later on hijacked a car, which they used to storm police station.

Indian television news channels were flashing the images of the abandoned white car next to the police station with bullet holes conspicuous on its wind shield.

Some media reports suggested that the attackers had sneaked into Punjab from Indian-controlled Kashmir.

However, Punjab Police Chief Sumedh Saini said it was too early to say where attackers had come from.

Saini said the attackers carried automatic weapons and GPS system.

Such assaults are common in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, but a rarity in Punjab.

Punjab, a majority-Sikh state, has witnessed militancy in 1980s, which ended in the early 1990s.

Reports said Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team from Indian-controlled Kashmir were requisitioned by authorities in Punjab to take on attackers.

According to AIR, some live bombs which were found on the Pathankot railway track that were defused by the bomb disposal squad of the Indian military.