Army chief Rawat warns of another surgical strike if needed

New Delhi, September 25

Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat said today that surgical strikes on terror launch pads across the LoC could be repeated, if necessary, seeking to send a stern message to Pakistan.

He said cross-border infiltration will continue because camps across the Line of Control, from where terrorists are launched, are still operational, and warned that the Indian Army is ready to "receive" them and keep dispatching them to their graves.

"The strike was a message we wanted to communicate to them and they have understood what we mean...that things could follow up, if required," Rawat said

He was speaking at the launch of a book 'India's Most Fearless'.

Later, responding to a question by reporters on infiltration attempts, Rawat said, "Terrorists will keep coming because the (terror) camps are operational there (across the LoC). Even we are ready. We will keep receiving them (infiltrators) to dispatch them two-and-a-half feet below the ground."

The surgical strikes on terror launch pads across the LoC were conducted on the intervening night of September 28-29 last year, following a militant attack on an Army camp that killed 19 soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir.

The strikes were carried out by the Special Forces of the Army who had crossed the LoC. An unspecified number of terrorists waiting to sneak into India were killed in action by the Indian Army. — PTI