India: IAF air strike hit Jaish camp lead by Masood Azhar's Brother-In-Law
India on Tuesday early morning carried pre-emptive air strikes across the Line of Control to target the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed’s terror camp, which was planning other terror attacks in India after Pulwama, said government.
"India struck the biggest camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot and a large number of terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis planning terror strikes were eliminated," Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said.
"A large number of Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists, including Masood Azhar’s brother-in-law Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri was eliminated in the operation," he added.
Vijay Gokhale: Large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders were eliminated in largest JeM camp in Balakot. Camp was led by Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, brother in law of JeM Chief Masood Azhar pic.twitter.com/l76nGMF0zV
— ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019
"In an intelligence lead operation in the early hours today, India struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commander & Jihadis were eliminated," said Vijay Gokhale.
Vijay Gokhale said India's "non-military preemptive action" was specifically targeted at the Jaish-e-Mohammed camp in PoK.
"Credible intelligence was received that Jaish-e-Mohammed was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country and Fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose," he said.
"India has given proof many times seeking action against Jaish-e-Mohammed and others at terror camps so big, that they can train hundreds of jihadis and terrorists at any given time. But due to Pakistan's inaction, this step was necessary and had to be taken," he said.
On Tuesday early morning, around 3:30 am, 12 Mirage 2000 fighter jets of the Indian Air Force dropped 1,000 kg bombs on terror camps of the Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen.
Also, read: Indian Airforce strikes at Jaish terror camp in PoK, Mamata Banerjee calls IAF as ‘India's Amazing Fighters’
First published: 26 February 2019, 12:02 IST