Exclusive: Uri Avenged, Army Conducts Surgical Strikes Across LoC

Sources told The Quint that the operation happened during the intervening hours of 20 September and 21 September.

The attack in Uri on Sunday morning had killed 18 soldiers. (Photo: PTI)

Update: On 29 September 2016, Indian Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh confirmed the Army’s policy of surgical strikes across the LoC against terrorists and their camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The DGMO informed media that the Army had carried out surgical strikes across the LoC on the night of 28th-29th September.

On 21st September The Quint had reported on the first such operation by the Indian Army’s Special Forces conducted on the night of 20th September. The details of the initial operation have since been revised and published here.

(In light of the reactions to this article, The Quint decided to reconfirm the information from its sources. We stand by our story.)

At least 20 terrorists have been neutralised in a daring cross-LoC operation by the Indian Army in response to the Uri attack.

Two units of the elite 2 Paras comprising 18-20 soldiers flew across the LoC in the Uri sector in military helicopters and carried out an operation that killed at least 20 suspected terrorists across three terror camps in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Total casualties, including those injured, could be as high as 200, sources said.

Military sources revealed to The Quint, which confirmed this information from two other independent sources, that the operation happened during the intervening hours of 20 September and 21 September.

Indications that the Indian Special Forces struck across LoC came in the form of Pakistan declaring a no-fly zone over PoK on 20 September night.

Pakistan’s national flag carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), had cancelled flights to northern Pakistani cities, including to Gilgit and Skardu in PoK, due to “airspace restrictions”.

PIA called off flights to Gilgit and Skardu in Gilgit-Baltistan region in PoK and Chitral in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

PIA spokesperson Danyal Gilani had tweeted this information late Tuesday evening.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif held a telephonic conversation with the country’s powerful Army Chief General Raheel Sharif on Tuesday night ahead of his speech at the UN in which he raised the Kashmir issue. It is understood that they are likely to have discussed this cross-border raid as well.

Soldiers guard on tip of their vehicle outside the army base which was attacked by suspected militants at Uri. (Photo: AP)

Speaking at an event earlier on Wednesday, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said the Uri attack may need a “knee-jerk” reaction.

“Won’t go into details of what India can do, but sometimes knee-jerk reaction is required,” he said.

Also Read: Sometimes a Knee-Jerk Reaction is Needed: Parrikar on Uri Attack

Hours after the attack on Sunday morning by four terrorists that killed 18 Indian soldiers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had tweeted that those behind the act “would not go unpunished”.

Geeta (centre), wife of Ravi Paul, an army soldier who was killed in Sunday’s attack at an Indian Army base in Kashmir’s Uri, reacts upon seeing the body of her husband in Sarwa village in Samba district, south of Jammu. (Photo: Reuters)

India has blamed the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist outfit for the attack in Uri.

A statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs listed the items recovered from the terrorists, including GPS tracker with coordinates that indicate the point and time of infiltration across the LoC and the subsequent route to the terror attack site; grenades with Pakistani markings; communication matrix sheets; communication equipment; and other items made in Pakistan, including food, medicines and clothes.

Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar had summoned Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit on Wednesday and conveyed India’s demand for action by Pakistan to crack down on the terror infrastructure in its territory.

Also Read: After Uri, ‘Rumours’ of Attack By India Bring Stocks Down in Pak