On Wednesday, Indian Army troops operating along the Myanmar border inflicted heavy casualties on Naga militants during retaliatory fire. This skirmish at the Myanmar border was, however, not the first time that Naga militants have come under the crosshairs of the Indian Army. In a well documented incident in 2015, Army troops crossed into the Myanmar border and hunted down militants operating from inside the neighbouring country. The operation was hailed as a major success as militant hideouts were destroyed. It was planned in response to a deadly militant attack on security forces stationed in Manipur in which 18 jawans were killed. This time, however, the Army did not venture into Myanmar's territory. Clarifying that it was not a surgical strike, the Army refuted reports of suffering casualties in Wednesday's encounter. A month after the Myanmar surgical strike, the army teamed up with their counterparts in Bhutan to flush out Northeastern rebels operating out of the Himalayan region. Rebels reportedly belonging to the Songbijit faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB-S) were targetted in the operations. In operations close to India's western borders, mainly Kashmir, the Indian Army had recently eliminated scores of most wanted militants in 'Operation All Out'. It had identified as many as 258 militants from dreaded organisations such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Hizbul Muzahideen and Al- Badr. So far the army has successfully pursued and neutralised at least 10 militant commanders who were part of the list.
