Indian surgical strikes on terror pads

SUJAN DUTTA, TT: THE OPERATION 

Indian agencies did not identify the places in PoK where the operation took place. The four places shown on map are based on Pakistani Army claim on cross-border firing.

THE BRIEF AND THE EXECUTION

The three-point brief given to the Indian Army

Objective: Cause maximum casualties to terrorists and their handlers

Result: India says “significant casualties” to terrorists and their supporters

Objective: Surprise and shock must for insertion, execution and extrication with no or minimum damage to own forces; no Indian soldier to be left behind

Result: Indian sources say Pakistani troops were “caught napping”. Pakistan says 2 soldiers died and nine wounded. India said in the evening one soldier was caught by the Pakistani Army after he “inadvertently” crossed over

Objective: Special Forces detachments must execute plan in co-ordination with the infantry battalions manning the LoC

Result: Accomplished, say Indian sources

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New Delhi, Sept. 29: Commandos of the Indian Army with shoulder-fired flamethrowers and plastic explosives crossed the Line of Control in the early hours today and raided at least five "terrorist launch pads" in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, officials and sources here said.

The "surgical strikes" inflicted "significant casualties to terrorists and those trying to support them", the Indian Army said. The terrorists were aiming to carry out "strikes in Jammu and Kashmir and in various metros", the army added.

In the evening, it was disclosed that an Indian soldier was taken into custody in the Mendhar sub-sector by the Pakistani Army. Indian Army sources said he had "inadvertently" crossed over and was not part of the cross-border action.

Such "inadvertent" crossings are not infrequent, the sources said. Pakistan newspaperDawn claimed 14 Indian soldiers were killed in two sectors. The daily had earlier reported that an Indian soldier named Chandu Babulal Chohan had been taken into custody by the Pakistani forces.

India denied its soldiers had been killed and said it had requested the return of the soldier.

Today's "surgical strikes" were in reprisal for the September 18 killings of Indian soldiers in Uri. It effectively marks a return to a situation described as "no war, no peace". But neither India nor Pakistan has formally called off the ceasefire on the LoC that was agreed in 2003.

The Indian military expects that there will be a retaliation from forces in Pakistan.

The White House today urged India and Pakistan to avoid escalation.

This is not the first time that Indian forces have carried out a raid like this. It is the first time, however, that the Indian government has formally claimed to have hit "terrorist launch pads" across the LoC with "surgical strikes".

Sources in the Indian Army and veterans said such cross-LoC strikes had been conducted many times in the past. But they were localised, "tactical" moves that were not publicised. For instance, in 2013, after two Indian soldiers were mutilated, the then army chief, Gen. Bikram Singh, had said a tactical response was given.

In announcing the "surgical strikes" through a rare joint media read-out by the external affairs ministry and the army Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) this afternoon, the Narendra Modi government has raised what was a tactical measure to a strategic level. Such a move means actions on the LoC will now be treated as factors of national, not local Kashmiri, import.

Pakistan has denied that there were "surgical strikes" by Indian forces in its territory. It alleged that India had "re-branded" artillery firing across the LoC as a "surgical strike".

Indian officials said they had enough evidence to assess the damage/attrition caused by the raids. It will be made public depending on the environment that will follow as a consequence of the Indian actions.

The action peaked between 3am and 4.30am, according to officials in the know of operations. The Indian commandos "exfiltrated" and were back in their home bases - their own "launch pads" in Indian territory - between 7 and 9 this morning.

Prime Minister Modi was informed at 9am. The DGMO talked to his counterpart in Pakistan on a telephone hotline at 11am and informed him about the Indian action.

The Indian Special Forces teams were asked to move to staging posts yesterday afternoon. Special Forces commandos of the 4 and 9 para - in the actions on Wednesday-Thursday night - were involved.

They were supported by " ghatak" (assault) platoons of infantry battalions that man the LoC in sectors across three divisions of the army headquartered in Rajouri, Baramulla and Kupwara. Uri is in the area of the Baramulla division. The frontage opposite which the raids took place spans Nowgam as well.

The officials said there were three non-fatal casualties among Indian troops that were caused "not by terrorists" but because of obstacles.

One soldier was injured because of a mine blast. The LoC has been heavily mined on both sides by the Indian and Pakistani armies through the decades. The mining goes back so long that nature and the elements have shifted the explosives buried in the ground to the extent that neither side can claim to have exact maps of their minefields, a task of army engineers (sappers).

The details that have been shared so far by sources in the army and those monitoring the operations are that teams of Special Forces had begun rehearsing raids since September 18. The actual timing of the operations was left to the northern army commander, Lt Gen. D.S. Hooda, and field commanders. The Special Forces are specially tasked for insertion and extrication from enemy territory.

The sources said "we caught them napping", when asked about the opposition they faced. Understandably, the Special Forces teams did not exit from the same routes through which they entered.

Some of the teams were helilifted from their bases to army camps within the Indian side of the LoC. No helicopter flew over the LoC with troops. The teams then used nullahs (narrow valleys) to sneak to the suspected terror launch pads.

"We chose a time during which people are vulnerable," said an official. The Pakistani troops were caught off guard despite the state of high alert on both sides of the LoC, the official said. The special teams then used plastic explosives with delayed charges and/or flamethrowers to blow up and/or burn the suspected terror camps, the official added.

The insertion of the troops began shortly after midnight. The action peaked across four areas identified as Tatapani or Hotspring, across the Indian sector of Mendhar, Lipa Valley, across the Indian sector of Nowgam, Bimbhar, across the Indian subsector of Bimbhar Gali, and Kel, across the Indian sector Machhil, between 3am and 4.30am.

"The actual assault probably took less than 90 minutes," the official said.

"They (the commandos) went up to shallow but significant depths," he said. He refused to define the distances to which the commando teams infiltrated but said the launch pads are usually between 1km and 3km from the LoC and are tactically placed between penny-packet posts of Pakistan's forward-deployed battalions.

"They (the Pakistani troops and the militants) did not know where we had come from and where we were exiting from. We have given them a clear-cut signal that our objective was the terrorists and their handlers," the official said. The last bit is designed to illustrate that the commandos deliberately chose not to attack Pakistani army positions.

Both the Indian and Pakistani armies are well aware of each other's posts nearly all along the LoC and are often literally eyeball to eyeball. Each side has mapped the other in great detail and has fine-tuned those maps through the 65-year stand-off on what used to be the ceasefire line that is called the LoC.

"Plans of the SF (Special Forces) were intimately coordinated with troops manning the LoC and the local ghatak platoons were incorporated," said the official.

The timing of the operation was chosen after the army received information (intelligence) that militants were assembling at the launch pads.

"During the exfiltration (of the commandos), the Pakistanis carried out intense ceasefire violations nearly all along the LoC, to which we responded appropriately," the official said.