New Delhi: Indian Air Force on Tuesday strategically carried out the aerial strike on Pakistan-based terror camps across Line of Control (LoC).
The massive operation took place in the early hours of Tuesday morning around 3:30 am and was completed within 19 minutes.
Approximately 80 km from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) around 300 terrorists were killed at Balakot, Chakothi, and Muzaffarabad, across LoC.
Twelve Mirage 2000 fighter jets were used in the operation to hit joint training camps of Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba inside Pakistan.
The strike completely destroyed camps by shelling laser-guided 1,000 kg bombs. These bombs were built with Israeli technology and were first used in the Kargil war.
The non-military pre-emptive action killed JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen attacks.
A five-star resort style camp in a hilltop forest in Balakot was the breeding house of hundreds of Fidayeen and their trainers.
India received intelligence that JeM had shifted many in-training terrorists and hardcore operatives, to the Balakot camp from PoK.
The lavish camp had facilities for 500 to 700 people, and even has a swimming pool along with cooks and cleaners.
The information provided Indian forces with "a sitting duck target" when they carried out an air strike.
Everyone at the camp was sleeping and Pakistani defence establishment had no clue that the attack was coming so deep into their country.
According to the government sources terror outfits had expected a surgical strike on camps in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir near the Line of Control.
"They had no idea that Balakot was to be the target ... when the pictures come in you will see only khandhar (ruins) of the once-flourishing camp", said the source to PTI.
The Balakot-based Jaish-e-Mohammad(JeM) terror camp was used for ''battle inoculation" and its trainers were retired officers of the Pakistan Army
Located on the banks of Kunhar river in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, the camp was also used by another terror group Hizbul Mujahideen and offered aquatic training to its inmates.
The location was also used to deliver several "inspirational lectures" by JeM founder Masood Azhar and other terrorist leaders on several occasions.
In the Balakot camp, the terrorists were imparted the advanced 'Daura-e-Khaas' training in weapons, explosives and field tactics, attack on convoys of security forces, planting and making of IEDs, suicide bombing, rigging vehicles for suicide attacks and survival tactics in high altitudes and extreme-stress situations, the sources said.
The JeM specialises in fidayeen actions and gives immense importance to religious indoctrination and ideological brainwashing, they said.
According to the intelligence sources, flags of USA, UK and Israel were painted on staircases seen in JeM facility destroyed by Indian Air Force jets in Balako.
(Photo: ANI)
Ammunition in Balakot that was dump blown by IAF had more than 200 AK rifles, uncountable rounds hand grenades, explosives and detonators.
(Photo: ANI)
The government informed that there were credible inputs of the JeM planning more suicide attacks in India and training terrorists in the camps.
The target included Jaish's biggest training camp in Pakistan. The bombs were dropped in the terror camp led by Yousuf Azhar, the brother-in-law of Masood Azhar.
India avenged the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama on February 14.
This was the first cross-border air strike India had carried out after 1971 (Bangladesh war).
On September 29, 2016, the Indian Army had conducted surgical strikes on seven terrorist launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC).
The surgical strike came in response to the attack on the Army base in Uri on September 18, 2016.
