'Leopard's urine helped Indian Army during surgical strike'

Former Nagrota Corps commander, Lieutenant General Rajendra Ramrao Nimbhorkar, who participated in September 2016 surgical strike in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK), said that the Indian Army carried leopard urine during the operation. He revealed that the soldiers did so in order to keep dogs away from them.

Addressing an event on Tuesday, he said, "There was a possibility of dogs in villages barking at us on the route. I knew they are scared of leopards. We carried leopard urine with us and that worked and dogs didn't dare to come forward."

He further elucidated, "On 29th September 2016 at about 4:15 am there was Fajr namaz of the Muslim community. So we decided that we will not kill them (terrorists) when they pray. We decided to kill them before 4:15 am."

Lt Gen Nimbhorka said that the secrecy was maintained in the whole operation and only 10 people were aware of the strike.

On 29 September 2016, the Indian Army carried out the surgical strike, 11 days after Pakistan carried out Uri attack in Jammu and Kashmir killing 18 Army personnel.

Lt Gen Nimbhorka was awarded Pune-based Thorle Bajirao Shaurya Puraskar for his contribution to the strikes.