The Defence Ministry on Thursday denied releasing the photographs of Indian Army soldiers involved in Myanmar operation, that went viral on social media.
Defence ministry spokesperson Sitanshu Kar tweeted clarifying that the ministry had not released any photos of the operation “so far”.
A Clarification: MoD has NOT issued any photo relating to Indian Army action along Indo-Myanmar border in the North East, so far.
— Sitanshu Kar (@SpokespersonMoD) June 11, 2015
One photo showing around 20 soldiers sitting in front of an army helicopter and posing for the camera was released by news agency ANI via Twitter. Captions tweeted along with this photo said these soldiers were the ones who had carried out the offensive against militants along the India-Myanmar border killing more than 20 militants.
Army team that destroyed militant camp in Myanmar. No casualties. Faces blurred to protect identity. pic.twitter.com/fXAVAmxLSM
— ANI (@ANI_news) June 10, 2015
Army team that destroyed militant camp in Myanmar. No casualties. Faces blurred to protect identity. pic.twitter.com/67QY56Ehjf
— ANI (@ANI_news) June 10, 2015
Even though the faces of the soldiers were blurred to protect their identity, social media soon flooded with re-posts of pictures where the identity was revealed.
The Indian Army on Tuesday carried out a rare cross-border operation inside Myanmar. The operation was to counter the killing of 18 soldiers in Manipur last week. In a special operation, Indian Army troops entered inside Burmese territory and neutralised a high number of militants in a hideout.