(MENAFN- Arab News) NEW DELHI: India is sending its national security adviser to Myanmar to calm tempers over a rare cross-raid against insurgents that it trumpeted as a warning to countries harboring anti-India militants.
Days after Indian Special Forces crossed into Myanmar from two northeastern states to hunt down militants who had killed 18 soldiers in an ambush it turns out that the operation was minor and only low-level rebels were targeted.
But Indian ministers portrayed the military action which was meant to be covert as a major success and a declaration that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was ready to carry out surgical strikes against militants beyond India's borders.
Myanmar broke its silence over the operation after the chest-thumping saying no fighting had taken place on its soil and military experts in New Delhi said it would be harder to get Myanmar's support for further counter-insurgency actions.
National Security Adviser Ajit Kumar Doval who was a key player in the June 9 operation against two rebel camps in Myanmar will meet government leaders in Myanmar during a two-day trip starting on Tuesday officials said.
'Damage limitation will be an overwhelming component of this visit after the embarrassment that has been caused to Myanmar by the intemperate statements from our ministers' said Ajai Sahni executive director of the Institute of Conflict Management that tracks militant activity across South Asia.
India's mountainous northeast bounded by China Myanmar Bangladesh and Bhutan is home to dozens of insurgent groups some fighting for greater autonomy and others for secession.
India's army said it inflicted significant casualties during the pre-dawn raid last week. But intelligence assessments have since revealed that one of the camps was empty when the commandos struck.
Only seven bodies had been recovered the Indian Express said quoting assessments conducted by the army with the intelligence services. Wireless intercepts suggested fewer than a dozen rebels were wounded.
'This was a relatively minor operation and will have only transient tactical and psychological significance. Operationally and logistically the Myanmar attack was unexceptional' Sahni said.