Indian Interior Minister Says Country's Forces Conducted 3 Strikes Abroad In Past 5 Years

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th March, 2019) Indian Interior Minister Rajnath Singh said on Saturday that the country has successfully struck abroad three times over the past five years, but refused to specify any details of one of the attacks.

"In the last five years, three time 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," the minister said at a rally in the city of Mangaluru, as quoted by the NDTV broadcaster.

The deadly attack took place in the Pulwama district of the Jammu and Kashmir state on February 14, killing 45 Indian officers. This was the biggest terrorist attack in India since 2008, when over 150 people were killed in Mumbai.

India has named Maulana Masood Azhar, the leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammed residing in Pakistan, as the person responsible for ordering the attack. In response to the terrorist attack, Indian Air Force fighters reportedly attacked a large training camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammed in the Pakistani part of the disputed Kashmir region. At the same time, Pakistan strongly rejected India's claim that the Indian Air Force's attack was aimed at a militant camp near the city of Balakot.

In September 2016, a group of armed militants attacked an infantry battalion camp in the city of Uri in Baramulla district in Jammu and Kashmir, killing 19 Indian soldiers. New Delhi then also put the responsibility for the attack on Jaish-e-Mohammed militants intruding into India from Pakistan.