Surgical strikes in Pakistan are the first major military action taken by India after Uri attack
Highlights
- India crosses Line of Control to target terrorists prepping to infiltrate
- Strongest military action against Pak in over a decade
- Army's commander of military ops briefs Pak counterpart
The "
surgical strikes" conducted by India on terrorists preparing to infiltrate from Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir inflicted significant casualties and mark a huge departure from the policy of strategic restraint India has shown over the last few years in the face of deadly terror attacks from across the border.
The strikes last night are the first direct military response to the attack on September 18 at an army base in Uri in Kashmir in which 18 soldiers were killed by four Pakistani terrorists.
The cross-border action that began at midnight inflicted significant casualties, Lt General Ranbir Singh, the army's head of operations told reporters.
Pakistan said there had been no such targeted strikes, and military officers claimed they had returned fire across the Line of Control.
India's announcement of last night's military action followed through on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's warning that those responsible "would not go unpunished" for the Uri assault.
The top spokesman for the Pakistani military slammed the Indian account of its action as "totally baseless and completely a lie".
"We deny it. There is no such thing on the ground. There is just the incident of the firing last night, which we responded to," Lt General Asim Bajwa told news channel Geo TV. Pakistan said two of its soldiers had been killed and nine wounded in firing across the Line of Control.
"The bigger message is that Pakistan is now on notice that cross-border attacks would be part of our response if there are any more terrorist attacks," said former Air Vice Marshal Manmohan Bahadur.
India's action comes at a crucial time for Pakistan, with powerful Army Chief of Staff General Raheel Sharif due to retire shortly and premier Nawaz Sharif still to decide on a successor. Also, India has led a boycott of a high-profile regional SAARC Summit which was to be held in November in Pakistan. After Prime Minister Modi said he would not attend, three of the remaining seven member-nations dropped out.
PM Modi has also called for a review of key water-sharing and trade agreements with Pakistan to corner Islamabad.