Graphic from India Today.
The Indian military launched “surgical strikes” against Pakistani terrorists across the Line of Control in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir last night, killing “up to 38 terrorists and Pakistani soldiers,” according to India Today. The raids were based on “very specific and credible information that some terrorist units had positioned themselves to infiltrate” into the country, the Indian Army’s Director General of Military Operations said.
The raids were clearly designed to retaliate for the Sept. 17 attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed on an Indian Army base in Uri in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Seventeen Indian soldiers were killed in the deadly raid.
India Today provides a list of “all you want to know on the surgical strikes”; here are the top six items on the list:
1. DGMO Lt General Ranbir Singh said the strikes were launched on Wednesday night based on “very specific and credible information that some terrorist units had positioned themselves to infiltrate” into India.
2. The announcement followed a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had vowed to avenge Uri in an earlier tweet.
3. The operation lasted from 12.30 am to 4.30 am, with the location being 500 metres to 2 km from the LoC on the Pakistani side, sources in the Indian Army said.
4. Seven terror launch pads were destroyed by the commandos of the Army Special Forces, who were paradropped into the Pakistani territory by ALH Dhruv choppers.
5. The surgical strikes were recorded on cameras with drones also recording footage.
6. 2 Indian soldier was injured from landmines during the surgical strikes, the Army said. It also said it had no immediate plans of another such operation for now.
The Pakistan military’s Inter-Services Public Relations directorate (ISPR) denied that India launched “surgical strikes” against “alleged terrorist bases.” From the ISPR statement posted on its Facebook page:
There has been no surgical strike by India, instead there had been cross border fire initiated and conducted by India which is existential phenomenon. As per rules of engagement same was strongly and befittingly responded by Pakistani troops.
The notion of surgical strike linked to alleged terrorists bases is an illusion being deliberately generated by Indian to create false effects.This quest by Indian establishment to create media hype by rebranding cross border fire as surgical strike is fabrication of truth. Pakistan has made it clear that if there is a surgical strike on Pakistani soil, same will be strongly responded.
The Indian military has stated that it recorded the operation (see point number 5 in the list above), so it can easily refute Pakistan’s denial of a cross-border raid against the “alleged terrorist camps.”
While the Pakistan denies the existence of terrorist camps on its soil, Syed Salahuddin, the leader of Hizb-ul-Muhajideen, a terrorist alliance that operates in Kashmir and includes groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, said in 2011 that the Pakistani military allows it to operate freely and run hundreds of training camps.
from Long War Journal – The Long War Journal http://ift.tt/2d9J5vz
via Defense News
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