Surgical strikes' video shows Indian Army destroying terror camps in PoK

The surgical strikes by the Indian Army were carried out by para commandos of the 4th and 9th battalions and the terror launch pads targeted were in the range of 2 to 3 km from the LoC.

New Delhi: Indian Army on the intervening night of September 28 and 29, 2016, carried out surgical strikes on terrorist launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan, inflicting heavy casualties. Now, 636 days after the daring raid by Army commandos, the video of the surgical strikes has been accessed by Zee News, which clearly shows the bravehearts demolishing terror launch pads.   

The video was captured through cameras mounted on the helmets of the commandos and drones hovering in the sky.

Seven terror launch pads were destroyed in a nearly five-hour-long operation, conducted days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had warned that Uri attack, in which 17 Army personnel were killed, would not go unpunished.

Here's how the operation was carried out:

# On September 29, DGMO Lt General Ranbir Singh announced that India had conducted surgical strikes on terror pads across the LoC using ground forces, inflicting 'significant casualties' on terrorists.

# The strikes were conducted on the intervening night of September 28 and 29 on the basis of credible information about some terror units positioning themselves to infiltrate into India.

# The operation was conducted between 500 metres to three kilometres across the LoC.

# Commandoes of Army special forces were para-dropped into the Pakistani territory by ALH Dhruv helicopters.

# A book on the surgical strikes later revealed that the Army had decided to use soldiers from the units that had suffered losses during the Uri attack.

# A Ghatak platoon was formed to provide crucial terrain intelligence and man border posts.

# An Army Major, who led the mission, later said that the most difficult part was the return of soldiers after the surgical strikes, as bullets fired by Pakistani soldiers were 'whistling past the ears of our men'.

# The operation was monitored from New Delhi by the then defence minister Manohar Parrikar, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and the then Army chief General Dalbir Singh.

# Following the announcement of the strike, a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security was chaired by PM Modi, after which he called an all-party meet and briefed the then President Pranab Mukherjee.

# Pakistan, however, denied any surgical strike by India. It had, instead, said that unprovoked firing by India had killed two of its soldiers.