Surgical strikes: Commandos combed 250 km, 70-80 of them attacked terror launch pads

New Delhi: About 70-80 commandos from two separate battalions of Para Special Forces (SF) were carried out the attacks and destroyed seven terror launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in the early hours of Thursday.

The commandos had combed a staggering area of 250 km to target the terror launch pads.

According to a report in The Indian Express, after midnight, commandos of 4 Para SF crossed the LoC at the Tutmari Gali area in the Nowgam sector of Kupwara, while those of 9 Para SF crossed between Balnoi and Nangi Tekri in the Poonch area.

They used shoulder-fired Carl Gustav 84mm rocket launchers and automatic grenade launchers to destroy the launch pads, according to the daily’s sources. Mi-35 attack helicopters were also kept on stand-by for any emergency, but the Air Force bases were not informed about the ground operation.

According to a report in NDTV, the commandos had to trek for ten hours, before they could reach the launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) that were in the range of 2 to 3 km from the LoC. The area had been under surveillance for over a week.

Read: A day after surgical strikes, Pak army opens fire on Indian posts along LoC

The operation had received a go ahead only on Wednesday afternoon and helicopters were flown out in pairs to carry out the operation. They conducted several sorties to divert Pakistan’s attention into certain sectors, including Uri, so facilitate easy movement of the commandos.

After an arduous trek of ten hours, the commandos crossed the LoC in Poonch and Nowgam sectors and reached their targets by 1:45 am. NDTV quoted its sources as saying that it is was an almost moonless night, which was very crucial to the operation, helping the commandos go unnoticed.

They returned to the Indian side of the border by 4:30 am on Thursday and the operation was officially called off at 8 am.

Read: India turns heat on Pakistan to release jawan taken captive

By the time Pakistan reacted to the surgical strikes, Indian troops were back to their bases, almost ‘unscratched’. Only one jawan sustained minor injuries from the mine he had stepped on at the Indian side of the LoC.

The Army chief congratulated all ranks of Udhampur-headquartered Northern Command “for the successful planning and conduct of surgical strikes on terrorist launch pads”.

One soldier, who had been captured by Pakistan on Thursday, was not part of the surgical strikes’ team and had “inadvertently crossed over to the other side of the Line of Control”. The government said it is doing all it can to secure his release.