Chandigarh, Dec 15 (IANS): Security agencies sounded an alert in the border belt of Pathankot in North Punjab on Thursday morning after an abandoned car was found there and villagers told the police that some suspicious people were spotted earlier.

The Punjab Police and other security agencies were carrying out searches in the area, police officers said.

Pathankot district police chief Rakesh Kaushal said that the car was found abandoned near Farwal village, close to the India-Pakistan international border. The vehicle was being searched.

It had a number plate of neighbouring troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Bamiyal sector, where the car was found, is close to the border of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir's border with Pakistan.

Terrorists from Pakistan had infiltrated from this area earlier. The terror attack on Pathankot airbase on January 2, was carried out by terrorists who had used the route from this sector to enter India.