Five years of surgical strike: How India avenged the Uri attack

September 29 marks the fifth anniversary of India’s surgical strikes against terrorist camps based out of Pakistan. On September 29, 2016, the Indian Army launched a series of surgical strikes against terror camps in retaliation to an attack by Pakistan-based terrorists at Indian Army’s base in Uri, Kashmir on September 18 that year in which 19 soldiers were killed. Since then, every September 29 is observed as Surgical Strike Day.

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The Uri attacks

At around 4:30 am on September 18, four terrorists of Pakistan-based out outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed entered India’s Army camp in Uri near the Line of Control (LOC) and carried out grenade attacks in a pre-drawn ambush. Media reports said that the terrorists lobbed 17 grenades in three minutes. Tents in the administrative base camp caught fire and 19 soldiers were killed.

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Aftermath of the attacks

Following the attacks, the Indian government convened a series of meetings and erstwhile Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar reviewed the situation in Kashmir and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a first information report (FIR). The 19th SAARC Summit which was supposed to be held in Islamabad, Pakistan was cancelled.

Surgical strikes: The retaliation

On September 29, 2016, Indian Army troops, including Special Forces commandos, carried out raids across the border on multiple targets. All the targets were allegedly used as launch pads by terrorists for infiltrating into Jammu and Kashmir for carrying out attacks against military and civilian targets.

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi later told the Army that he realised that he wanted justice for the martyred soldiers and the government gave them a “free hand” to plan and execute the surgical strikes. In an interview to news agency ANI, PM Modi said that there was a rage building up inside him and the Army after the attacks. The prime minister said he ordered the troops to not think about success or failure but be back before sunrise.