New Delhi:
The details of two deadly surgical strikes by India and Pakistan in 2011 have surfaced, in which at least 13 soldiers were killed, six of them decapitated.Â
According to documents procured by an Indian English news daily, Pakistan attacked Indian post and killed six soldier in July, 2011. Indian Army replied with one of the deadliest cross-border raids carried out by it in the recent memory.
Official documents, video and photographic evidence accessed by the daily, chillingly capture the two cross-border raids and the brutality of the tit-for-tat cycle which seems far deadlier than what is publicly acknowledged.
Then chief of Kupwara-based 28 Division Major General (retired) SK Chakravorty, who planned and executed the operation, confirmed the raid to the newspaper, but refused to divulge any further details, the report said.Â
The then DGMO and the then Army Chief(VK Singh) was informed about it: SK Chakravorty(then GOC Kupwara) on 2011 Operation Ginger
— ANI (@ANI_news) October 9, 2016
Ye ek avenge operation tha, humne border ke paar jaa kar strike kiya tha: SK Chakravorty(then GOC Kupwara) on 2011 Operation Ginger pic.twitter.com/Wr1yMVsDvn
— ANI (@ANI_news) October 9, 2016
Yes such an operation did happen across the LoC on August 30,2011, all details which have come out are true:SK Chakravorty(then GoC Kupwara) pic.twitter.com/dTJ6vRBZNZ
— ANI (@ANI_news) October 9, 2016
Pak attack on Rajput and Kumaon regiments
According to the report, the Pakistani raiders struck a remote army post in Gugaldhar ridge in Kupwara, on the afternoon of July 30, 2011, surprising the six soldiers from the Rajput and Kumaon regiments.Â
The 19 Rajput Battalion was to be replaced by 20 Kumaon around the time the Pakistani Border Action Team (BAT) struck. The attacking team took back the heads of Havildar Jaipal Singh Adhikari and Lance Naik Devender Singh of 20 Kumaon. A soldier of the 19 Rajput, who reported the attack, died later in a hospital,†the report said.Â
India’s revengeÂ
The documented proof with the newspaper reportedly shows that, in revenge, the Indian Army planned Operation Ginger, which would turn out to be one of the deadliest cross-border raids carried out by the Indian Army in recent memory.
Recce of Pak vulnerabilitiesÂ
Indian Army carried out at least seven physical and air surveillance reconnaissance missions to identify potential targets. The recce identified three vulnerable Pakistani army posts Police Chowki, a Pakistani army post near Jor, Hifazat and Lashdat lodging point, the newspaper reported.Â
According to a secret report of the raid, accessed by the newspaper, different teams for ambush, demolition, surgical strike and surveillance were constituted following the Gugaldhar beheadings.
Operation Ginger: The attack
According to the detailed report filed by the English daily, the Indian Army launched Operation Ginger on Tuesday, August 30. On the D-Day, 25 soldiers, mainly Para Commandos, launched an attack through ambush at four Pakistani soldiers at around 7am.Â
“One of the Pakistani soldiers fell into a stream that ran below. Indian soldiers rushed to chop off the heads of the other three dead soldiers. They also took away their rank insignias, weapons and other personal items. The commandos then planted pressure IED’s beneath one of the bodies, primed to explode when anyone attempted to lift the body,†the report said.Â
The news report goes on to give detailed account of the surgical strike which ended at around 2:30pm, when Indian troops returned back to the Indian territory, having killed eight Pakistani troops. The report said that the Indian Army carried back heads of three Pakistani soldiers along with three AK47 rifles.Â
According to the report, the heads were later burnt to remove all traces of evidence of the incident.Â