Inside story: Over 100 northeast militants may have been killed in Army’s Myanmar operations

TNN

New Delhi, 10 June 2015: Indian Army’s surgical strike deep inside Myanmar, bordering Manipur, lasted for about 45 minutes and over 100 northeast militants may have been killed in the operation, a ministry of home affairs source told TOI. 

 

Army’s strike against militants was so precise that latter had no chance to recover from first burst of fire. Indian Army forces faced no retaliation and not a single shot was fired by militants. 

 

Six injured rebels are admitted in a hospital. 

 

Myanmar has since cordoned off the area where Indian Army undertook operations against northeast insurgents.

 

On Nagaland border too, Army’s special forces pursued militants into Myanmar and killed 15 insurgents. 

 

The Myanmar government was informed hours after the commandos in battle fatigues had mostly completed surgical strikes against the groups which had over the past couple of weeks killed 30 Indian soldiers. The operation, conceived as retaliation as well as the declaration of Modi government’s intent to strike at terror threats across its borders, had begun at 3am but the Indian ambassador could pass on the information to Myanmar’s foreign ministry only after their offices opened at regular hours on Tuesday morning. 

 

The commandos safely returned to Indian territory after silencing the insurgents’ guns. 

 

IAF choppers and drones assisted the SF (special forces) soldiers. 

 

Minister of state for information and broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore told Times Now that the hot pursuit was ordered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said attacks on Indians, be it in Iraq or Yemen, were unacceptable. "This is a message to neighbours who harbour terrorists," Rathore said. 

 

Announcing the success, the government made it clear that it was not a one-off operation but symbolized its decision not to be constrained by borders and to be pre-emptive in dealing with terror threats. "While ensuring peace and tranquility along the border and in the border states, any threat to our security, safety and national integrity will meet a firm response," the Army declared officially, a posture that is also applicable to terror groups sheltered by other neighbouring countries. 

 

The troops were guided to two camps of the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) and allied insurgent groups by intelligence which was gathered by operatives who crossed over into Myanmar a couple of days ago and returned with precise co-ordinates of the terror dens along with photographs.

The daring raid, which saw commandos crawling hundreds of meters to raid the camps, marked the unveiling of India’s new response to unconventional threats irrespective of where they come from. This was the first declared instance of the use of the doctrine of pre-emption: a principle that the US invokes to disregard constraints of national borders to nip threats. 

 

Briefing the reporters after the successful strikes on the camps at two separate locations across Tuensang in Nagaland and Ukhrul in Manipur, Major General Ranbir Singh made no bones of the fact that the twin operations were provoked by the killing of Indian soldiers. More importantly, he said the Army had to move in view of "credible and specific" intelligence about more attacks inside India. "These attacks were to be carried out by some of the groups involved in earlier attacks on our security personnel and their allies," said General Singh, additional director general of military operations. 

 

"In view of the imminent threat, an immediate response was necessary," he said. 

 

Government sources said the political leadership cleared the cross-border pursuit because it was considered necessary to lift the morale of the Army after it lost 30 of its men in 3 attacks by insurgents, as well as to send across a message to "perpetrators of terror wherever they are". 

 

Explaining Modi government’s new stance towards terror threat, a senior official told TOI: "You cannot realistically hope to prevent each terror attack because the timing and the target is determined by the enemy. But how do you respond is your prerogative. And it is the response which defines your determination to use all responses at your disposal to strike at those responsible." 

 

The cross-border pursuit was in line with Modi government’s decision to give disproportionate response to provocations, which had been visible in Jammu & Kashmir in recent months, where Indian troops have been aggressive in their response to ceasefire violations by Pakistan.