New Delhi: Combat jets of the Indian Air Force bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control on the Pakistani side in a pre-dawn strike today, 12 days after the Pakistan-based terror group, Jaish-e-Mohammed carried out the Pulwama attack in Kashmir.
Sources said the Mirage 2000 fighter jets pounded JeM terror camps in Balakot, Muzaffarabad and Chakoti in the well-planned strike, destroying the camps. Some reports claimed that around 300 terrorists were killed.
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the operation.
Hours later, Prime Minister Modi chaired a meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security which was attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Sitharaman.
The sources said significant damage has been inflicted on the ground on the Pakistani side. A source indicated that the operation was carried out between 3:50 AM and 4:05 AM.
In Islamabad, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi called an ’emergency meeting’ at the Foreign Office for consultations, sources said.
Qureshi will meet Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan after the meeting in which he will discuss the security situation with high-level officials, they said.
In an early morning tweet, Major General Asif Ghafoor, director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, said Indian aircrafts intruded from the Muzaffarabad sector.
“Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage,” Ghafoor said in a tweet.
“Indian Air Force violated Line of Control Pakistan. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircraft gone back,” he claimed.
India had put all IAF bases in the western sector on maximum alert after the Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.
After the Pulwama attack, Modi announced that the armed forces have been given full freedom to respond to the strike.