The central government will celebrate the fourth anniversary of the 2016 surgical strikes against terrorist camps in Pakistani-occupied Kashmir by the Indian army on September 28.
The attack on the night of September 27-28, 2016, was in response to a Pakistani attack on an army base in Uri, Kashmir on September 18 in which 19 soldiers were killed.
Here’s everything you need to know about Surgical Strike Day:
• The Pakistani army launched a deadly attack on a military base in Uri, killing 19 Indian soldiers on September 18, 2016.
• The army responded by carrying out surgical strikes against terrorist platforms in Pakistani-occupied Kashmir.
• The attack was carried out under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar and National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval. “India will neither forgive nor forget,” Prime Minister Modi declared less than a week after the Uri attack.
• The army’s preparation for the attacks began on September 24. Special forces squads set out for the mission armed with night vision devices, Tavor 21 and AK-47 assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, shoulder missiles, Heckler and Koch pistols, high-explosive grenades, and plastic explosives. The teams were 30 each and had specific objectives.
• The plan was such that teams with distant targets left early on September 27 at night so that all attacks were coordinated. The instructions were that all teams would attack the terrorists simultaneously so that no one could rescue another.
• Civilians living near the border in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab were evacuated at 10 pm on September 27, before the Indian soldiers crossed.
• Sentinels on the launch pads were neutralized by snipers before the troops entered and finished the job.
• All teams returned to their bases at 9 am on September 28. An Indian army soldier lost his life in the operation.
• The army said Indian soldiers toppled six launch pads and shot 45 terrorists in various locations.
• In 2018, two years after the attack, the government decided to celebrate September 28 as ‘Surgical Strike Day’.
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