By Krishn Kaushik

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Four army personnel were killed in a firing incident at a military station in the Indian border state of Punjab early on Wednesday, officials said, adding that a search for the shooters was in progress.

An unknown number of shooters were at large at the Bathinda military station and had ammunition on them, a defence source told Reuters, declining to be named citing the sensitivity of the matter.

The incident was "not a terror attack", and took place in a canteen, a senior police official in Punjab, S.P.S. Parmar told Reuters.

"Station quick-reaction teams were activated. Area was cordoned off and sealed," the army said in a statement. "Search operations are in progress. Further details being ascertained."

The incident took place at 4:35 a.m. (2305 GMT Tuesday), the statement said.

The military station, about 280 km (175 miles) northwest of New Delhi, houses mostly families of soldiers and is a residential army base.

(Reporting by Krishn Kaushik; writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Shri Navaratnam and Raju Gopalakrishnan)