Mumbai

A day after Indian Army carried out a surgical strike inside Myanmar on militants believed to be involved in the June 4 killing of 18 soldiers in Manipur, Union minister Prakash Javadekar today said the country’s response will serve as a lesson to those who incite terror.

“The military’s action against insurgents with assistance from the Myanmarese government speaks volumes about India’s resolve to fight terror. This is a lesson and a message to all the terror groups that India will not hesitate in going beyond its geographical borders to eliminate terrorists,” Javadekar said.

While replying to a query, he, however, refused to comment on if India will carry out a similar strike on Pakistan-based groups plotting terror against India.

Javadekar was speaking to reporters here while outlining the achievements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government’s one year in office.

Eighteen Indian soldiers were killed and 15 others injured in an attack on a convoy of 6 Dogra Regiment in the Chandel district of Manipur on June 4. Two militants were also reportedly killed in a retaliatory fire then.

In the first such cross-border operation, special forces of the army in coordination with the air force had yesterday carried out a surgical strike inside Myanmar, killing nearly 20 insurgents of the groups believed to be responsible for the deadly ambush in Manipur that killed 18 soldiers.

Elite commandos of the army went a few kilometres inside Myanmarese territory to destroy two camps of insurgents hiding there after their attacks in Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh last week by suspected NSCN(K) and KYKL outfits.

The operation was guided by “specific and precise” intelligence input, highly placed sources had said.

About 15 to 20 insurgents were killed in the assault, the sources had said.

PTI