On September 29, Indian soldiers crossed LoC and targeted staging areas used by terrorists in PoK
A top Army commander today said the surgical strikes carried out last year at terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir were intended to convey the message that the Line of Control can be breached whenever the need arises.
"The surgical strike was a point we wanted to drive home across -- that the Line of Control (LoC) is not a line that cannot be breached. When we want to, we will be able to breach it [LoC], go across and strike when we need. This was the message we wanted to convey and we did," said Lieutenant General Devraj Anbu, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Northern Command during a press conference in Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir, reported news agency Press Trust of India.
On September 29 last year, Indian soldiers crossed the Line of Control or defacto border in Kashmir and targeted staging areas used by terrorists in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.
Seven terrorist launch pads were reportedly targeted before the troops returned around 4.30 am. Each terrorist launch pad had 30 to 40 terrorists, said sources, and the army said there were "massive casualties". A combination of ground forces and para commandos were involved.
Nearly 20 of those soldiers were honoured on Republic Day with gallantry awards.
The raids were conducted to eliminate terrorists who were planning to attack metros in India, the army said hours after the soldiers returned home safely. The military action was in retaliation for the deadly attack weeks earlier on an army camp in Uri in Kashmir, which left 19 military personnel dead.
With inputs from PTI