US Reacts to Uri Attack and India’s Surgical Strike

US reacts to Surgical Strikes, says attacks like theses escalates tensions.

State Department Spokesperson John Kirby. (Photo Courtesy: defenseimagery.mil)

The United States said a terrorist attack like the one on an Indian Army camp in Uri "escalates tensions", and asked Pakistan to act against UN-designated terrorist outfits and delegitimise them.

The US seems to be treading cautiously on India’s surgical strikes, with the state department spokesperson ducking a reporter’s question on the operations and instead criticising the Uri terror attack.

Obviously, an (terrorist) attack like that (in Uri) escalates tensions. What I don’t want to do is try to get into, you know, some sort of broad characterisation one way or the other but obviously an attack like this is horrific.

John Kirby, US State Department Spokesperson

The spokesperson was interrupted by the reporter mid-way who pointed out that her question was about India's response to the September 18 Uri attack.

"But the Indian response is that — is that the kind of escalation that Secretary Kerry was warning against?" the journalist asked referring to the telephonic conversation between the Secretary of State John Kerry and the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj earlier this week.

Kirby was quick to clarify that he was referring to the Uri terrorist attack.

I can confirm for you that the secretary spoke with — on the 27th, so earlier this week, with Indian External Affairs Minister Swaraj and reiterated his strong condemnation of the September 18 Uri attack. He condemned terrorism in all its forms and he cautioned against any escalation intentions.

(With inputs from PTI)

Video Editor: Prashant Bhardwaj