Surgical Strikes Anniversary: How Indian Army's Special Forces Busted Terror Camps Across LoC

In wee hours of September 29, 2016, the Indian army carried out surgical strikes across the Line of Control destroying at least seven terror launchpads in PoK. The strikes came 10 days after a brutal terror attack on an Army camp in Uri, North Kashmir along the LoC left 19 soldiers dead. The commandos of the elite Parachute regiment carried out the special operation with clinical precision after getting a go-ahead from the Union government.

Indian Army's DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh announced that Pakistan had been informed about the strikes and that India had no intention of continuing the operations but was ready for any military response from Pakistan's side.

The underlying objective behind carrying out the strikes was to bust the terror camps across the LoC which as per intelligence reports served as breeding grounds for a terrorist to sneak across the Loc and cause militancy in the Kashmir valley. The surgical strikes were hailed as a befitting response by the Indian army to avenge the death our soldiers who lost their lives in the barbaric Uri attack on Sept 18.

On the anniversary of Surgical strikes, let us recall how the brave hearts of the Indian army conducted the surgical strikes 

• The Indian army chose its elite special forces to carry out the operations. Officers and paratroopers of the 4th and 9th battalion of the Parachute Regiment were selected for the mission.
• The commandos of the Indian Army commenced with the surgical strikes operation on the intervening night of September 28-29. As per sources close to the matter, the operation commenced around 12.30 am on September 29.
• The Indian Army commandos were airdropped by Indian Air Force choppers at the LoC, from where they crossed over to the Pakistani side. 
• Indian forces fired artillery shells across the LoC to provide cover fire to the three to four teams comprising of 70–80 commandos
• According to sources, Indian commandos entered as far as three kilometers across the Line of Control to conduct the 'surgical strikes' 
• The location of the terror launchpads was in the proximity of 500 meters-2 Kms across the Line of Control
• The Para commandos reached their designated targets by foot, and by 2 am, started destroying the launch pads using shoulder-fired Carl Gustav 84mm rocket launchers and automatic grenade launchers.
• The strikes were carried out in Bhimber, Hotspring, Kel & Lipa sectors, on Pakistan's side of the Line of Control.
• The special forces killed 38 terrorists and 2 Pakistani soldiers, no Indian casualties were reported. Those killed included terrorists, their guides, and handlers 
• All the para-commando teams returned to the Indian side of the LoC by 4.30 am on Sept 29 and the operation, which had not been given any code name, was officially called off by the Indian Army at 8 am.