India conducted a major preemptive strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed’s biggest camp early Tuesday, 26 February, to prevent suicide attacks being planned by the Pakistan-based militant group, killing a large number of terrorists and trainers, Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said.
“India conducted non-military preemptive strikes on the biggest JeM militant camp,” Gokhale said. It was not clear if the strikes were on Balakote in PoK or Balakot in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
An eye-witness from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Mohammed Adil, told BBC that he knows about the “houses being hit near his residence and someone he knows personally being injured.”
“It was very scary. We heard loud noises and five ten minutes later there was a blast. We did not sleep the whole night. After 5-10 minutes, we got to know there’s been a blast,” he said. According to BBC Hindi, Adil said there were five blasts at the same time.
Another eye witness, Wajid Shah, was quoted as saying by BBC, “It felt like somebody is firing with a rifle. We heard it thrice. Then there was silence.”
“We saw trees fallen down and one house damaged and four craters where the bombs had fallen,” a Mohammad Ajmal told Reuters.
A large number of JeM militants, trainers, senior commanders and group of jihadis were killed in the operation, the foreign secretary told the media, hours after news broke out that IAF Mirage aircraft were deployed to unleash a wave of bombings on militant camps across the LoC.In the face of imminent danger, a preventive strike became “absolutely necessary,” he said, adding that India is firmly committed towards taking all measures to fight terrorism.
India, Gokhale said, expects Pakistan to dismantle all terror camps, including those of the JeM.
(With inputs from BBC Hindi, Reuters)
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