Operation launched based on specific, credible information'

New Delhi: After the Uri attack on September 18, the government made up its mind that it could not be business as usual with Pakistan. Areas that are generally used to infiltrate militants across the Line of Control were studied.

Around 10 sites were identified across the LoC as possible targets. The military operations directorate finally chose four: Bhimber and Tatapani (Hot Springs) in the Poonch-Rajouri sector, Lipa opposite Baramulla and Kel that faces the Kupwara sector.

The government decided that a strike would be carried out only if it detected plans to infiltrate militants across these four sectors. The Research and Analysis Wing chief and his key officer in charge of Pakistan were asked to gather intelligence from the ground, while the technical intelligence agency, the National Technical Research Organisation, was asked to monitor satellite imagery to detect any movement of the sort associated with infiltration bids.

With the PM giving a green signal, NSA Doval swung into action and set up a command control room in South Block along with Army chief Dalbir Singh Suhag and DGMO Ranbir Singh. The PM, home and defence ministers were in constant touch on a hot line with the control room.

Over the past week while India was weighing the options of a surgical strike the Army had quietly positioned two of its crack commando units from the elite Special Forces, the 4 and 9 Para-commandos, close to the LoC with a clear brief to be prepared to strike within minutes.

Drones and advanced communication systems were employed to track the militants in the well-disguised launching pads, keeping the entire apparatus combat-ready. The only question was about the timing.

The forces had a window of two hours, between 2 and 4 am, to execute the operation and be back well before sunrise. The Special Forces were divided into five small teams each with 8 to 20 commandos. As part of a diversionary tactic Indian security forces opened fire while the para-commandos struck at the launch pads with clinical precision in the dead of the night with reports suggesting that they inflicted heavy casualties on the militants including killing of two Pakistani soldiers.

In one particular location as the operation was coming to a close, reinforcements had come in form of Pakistani Rangers and Border Action Teams and Rangers, sources said. “But when they saw the volume of fire, they beat a retreat”, a source said. By about  4 am the entire Special Forces unit was back at their base on Indian soil loaded with evidence including photographs of the operation and military hardware seized from the killed militants.

“All this, while the control room in South Block kept the political leadership informed about the unfolding operation as information was being relayed to them through a wireless set by commandos on the ground. The commandos caused substantial damage to the launch pads which had militants from all major terror outfits in the operation,’’ a senior security official said.