India Carried Out Three Surgical Strikes, Won’t Talk About The Third: Rajnath

Mangaluru: Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said India carried out three surgical strikes across the border during the last five years, but refused to give details of the third one.

Apart from the surgical strike across LoC after the Uri terror attack and air strike after the Pulwama terror attack, there was a third strike which India had conducted, The Home Minister said at a rally here.

“In the last five years, three times we have crossed the border and conducted successful strikes. I will provide information on two, but not the third. Once in Uri, our soldiers were killed by terrorists coming from Pakistan, then our soldiers had responded. Next was after Pulwama. The third one I will not disclose,” he said.

Singh’s statement has triggered intense speculation about the likely target of the third strike and the nature of the attack. India has consistently maintained that all options were available with it to crack down on terrorism.

His statement also assumes significance as it comes against the backdrop of reports that Modi government was weighing options of launching an audacious strike inside Pakistan to hunt down and eliminate Jaish-e-Mohammad founder and brain behind the Pulwama attack Masood Azhar.

Recently, union minister Arun Jaitley had hinted at India’s ability to execute a covert operation like the one carried out by the US to kill al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in 2011.

Air Force Chief B S Dhanoa had said on Monday the operation to eliminate the terror elements was still on.