New Delhi, Sept. 29: India won support from the US for action against terrorists in Pakistan hours before launching what the army has called "surgical strikes" across the Line of Control, signalling a carefully thought-out strategy aimed at insulating itself from any diplomatic backlash.

National security adviser Ajit Doval spoke over the phone with his American counterpart Susan Rice late yesterday evening India time, earning her backing for diplomatic pressure on Pakistan to "combat and delegitimise" UN-recognised terror groups.

The Indian foreign office revealed the telephone conversation today morning, sparking speculation that Doval had briefed Rice about the operations that had just concluded.

But both American and Indian officials late evening confirmed to The Telegraph that the conversation took place just before the strikes were launched.

On Thursday afternoon, after India had announced the strikes, and the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) had spoken to his Pakistan counterpart about them, foreign secretary S. Jaishankar presented envoys from several key countries with New Delhi's rationale for the attack.

It is unclear if Doval informed Rice, in their conversation, of the then impending cross-border strikes that represent India's response to the Uri terror attack on September 18 in which 18 soldiers were killed. Indian officials denied giving the US a heads up on the planned strike.

But the support Doval won from Rice, as reflected in a statement put out by the White House, will make it hard for the US to criticise the army strikes against terrorists in Pakistan territory, even if he did not inform her in advance.

"Highlighting the danger that cross-border terrorism poses to the region, Ambassador Rice reiterated our expectation that Pakistan take effective action to combat and delegitimize United Nations-designated terrorist individuals and entities, including Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Jaish-e-Muhammad, and their affiliates," Ned Price, US National Security Council spokesperson said in a statement.

"In the context of the robust US-India partnership, Ambassador Rice discussed our shared commitment with India to pursuing peace and regional stability and pledged to deepen collaboration on counter-terrorism matters including on UN terrorist designations."

The White House released the statement around 4am India time, when, according to Indian Army sources, the cross-border strikes were still on.

India, senior officials said, had prepared for a diplomatic counter-offensive from Pakistan after the offensive, which Islamabad has insisted were nothing more than cross-border firing and which it claims did not involve "surgical strikes".

The diplomatic argument framed by India, which it articulated today and will press with in the days ahead, involves an insistence that it only attacked terrorists preparing to launch infiltration bids into India.

India did not target Pakistan military posts, officials said, though it is unclear how two Pakistan soldiers died - one diplomat suggested they were killed in an exchange while the Indian forces were either closing in on the terror base or withdrawing from it.

The prompt telephone call by India's DGMO, Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh, to his Pakistan counterpart after the strike was aimed at preventing any misunderstanding by assuring him that Pakistan's military posts were not India's targets, and that New Delhi's operations were limited.

Hours after Singh's statement, Jaishankar called 25 foreign ambassadors and high commissioners to South Block - the foreign ministry headquarters - where he delivered the Indian diplomatic argument for the strikes.

The high commissioners of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the Maldives, and ambassadors of Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Myanmar were among the diplomats Jaishankar addressed.

Though pre-emptive self-defence, the diplomatic argument India is making, remains controversial in international law, it has gained growing support among the world's major nations especially since the 9/11 attacks in the US.

China, the US and other major nations have over the past two weeks publicly - and unofficially - counselled India and Pakistan to try and lower tensions. But till late evening, none of them had publicly responded to the Indian assertion of surgical strikes.

The Bangladesh government, in Dhaka said it endorsed the Indian strikes.

"India has got all legal, internationally accepted right to make a response to any attack on her sovereignty and her soil," Iqbal Chowdhury, a key adviser to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said.

India envoy in Pak

Late this evening, Pakistani foreign secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry summoned the Indian high commissioner in Islamabad, Gautam Bambawale, to issue a formal protest against the deaths of the two soldiers. Bambawale was also told about a threatening telephone call that Pakistan's high commissioner in New Delhi, Abdul Basit, had received today.