NEW DELHI: The Army’s crack team operation to neutralise militant outfit NSCN-(K) terror camps deep inside Myanmar was four days in planning but took just 45 minutes to execute.
Within an hour of the June 4 Manipur ambush that killed 18 soldiers, a high-level meeting chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh at North Block set the tone for the revenge strike. The message and mandate to Army Chief Dalbir Singh Suhag, present in the meeting, was clear — a response in the same language within 24 hours. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Suhag were asked to prepare the blue print for the operation. Within an hour, another meeting was called at Rajnath’s residence on Akbar Road.
During the meeting, Suhag said the special team will require at least 2-3 days to prepare such a cross-border attack. The proposal for an airstrike on the militant camps was rejected during the meeting as it could have inflicted collateral damage, but all those present agreed on a ground operation.
Rajnath gave a clear mandate for the operation and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was informed about the outcome of the meeting. Modi gave the green signal for the hot pursuit. Assets of Intelligence Bureau and R&AW were asked to be activated on the ground.
Minutes after the second meeting at Rajnath’s residence on June 4, another meeting was called at Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s residence with Doval and Suhag late in the night.
It was decided that the two would travel to Manipur for ground reconnaissance and finalise the mission.
Top sources in Intelligence said that Doval and Suhag flew to Manipur on June 5 to assess the situation.
“Army chief was told to prepare a special team of commandos familiar with the terrain and experts in jungle warfare. Just a handful of army officials knew of the planned raid. There was an intimation to Myanmar top officials about the impending raid. Seventy commandos from 21 Para of the Indian Army were prepared for the operation,” sources said.
It is learnt that the initial decision was to carry out the attack early on June 8 but it was put on hold for a day as Modi returned from his Bangladesh trip on June 7 and it was decided that Doval and Army Chief would brief him further about the operation.
“The Prime Minister was briefed on the morning of June 8 and the operation was green-lighted for the morning of June 9,” sources said.
The sources added that the Prime Minister Office was monitoring the entire development during the raid.
In a daring manhunt inside Myanmar, the team, equipped with state-of-the-art weaponry, flew from an undisclosed location in Manipur.
They were offloaded at a strategic location and trekked at least 5 kilometre through thick forest in the wee hours.
The team was split into two and caught the ultras by surprise.
“It is hard to give an exact figure but more than 50 ultras were killed. The number could be more and may cross over 100 as there was intelligence input that around 120 militants were present in the two camps. Some ultras may have escaped but that possibility is very remote. The whole operation was finished within 45 minutes. However, it was declared successful officially only in the afternoon,” sources informed.