People are frantically Google-ing 'Surgical strike'. Here's what it means

Right after DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh announced that the Indian Army conducted surgical strikes on terror launch pads along the Line of Control (LoC), the nation burst into spontaneous applause. However, most people also immediately reached out to Google search to figure out the meaning of the term 'Surgical Strike'.

If you are still confused about what it really means, here's 'Surgical Strike' decoded for you:

A surgical strike is a military attack intended to damage a specific military target.

Read more:Surgical strikes on terror launch pads across LoC; Pak calls it unprovoked firing

It also intends not to damage surrounding structures, vehicles, buildings, or the general public infrastructure, along with inflicting minimal collateral damage.

Read more:Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif condemns India's surgical strikes across LoC

Precision bombing is an example of surgical strike by an aircraft. It can be differentiated from 'carpet bombing', as carpet bombing aims at massive collateral damage and a wide range of destruction.

According to Economic Times, the surgical strikes conducted by the Indian Army has claimed 38 lives.

What are Terror Launch Pads?

According to emerging reports, seven terror launch pads have been destroyed.

But what exactly is a terror launch pad?

Terror launch pads are secret hiding locations of terrorists. Each launch pad has four to five terrorists who possess arms and ammunition to carry out terrorist attacks and infiltration attempts.

As per a statement released by DGMO, various stores including GPS and items with Pakistan-origins were recovered during the Indian surgical attack and infiltration attempts. These items were recovered from terror launch pads.