IAF Cross LoC, destroy terrorist camp with 1000 kg bombs

IAF Cross LoC, destroy terrorist camp with 1000 kg bombs                                                  

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Army on Tuesday alleged that the Indian Air Force violated the Line of Control (LoC) in Muzafarabad sector.

"Indian aircraft intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage," Major General Asif Ghafoor, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the army, said in a tweet.

"Indian Air Force violated Line of Control Pakistan. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircraft gone back," he tweeted. More then one Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter aircraft on early Tuesday (Feb. 26) morning crossed the Line of Control that divides the state of Jammu & Kashmir between India and Pakistan, according to the Pakistan government, raising the geopolitical temperature in south Asia considerably.

Followed by the scrambling of Pakistan Air Force aircraft in response, the IAF fighters released “payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot,” according to the official Twitter handle of Major-General Asif Ghafoor, spokesperson of the Pakistan Armed Forces.

The operation involved 12 Mirage 2000 jets which dropped 1,000 kg of bombs to completely destroy major terror camps in Balakot, Chakothi and Muzaffarabad, according to Indian news agency ANI. Indian journalists also cited government sources to say that bases of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a terrorist group that operates out of Pakistan, were attacked and Indian ground troops, too, were involved in the operation.

Balakot is a town in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, well beyond the section of Kashmir in possession of that country. This makes the ramification of the Indian military action considerably bigger. Besides, even during the 1999 Kargil war, the Indian government had not allowed the IAF to cross the LoC.

In 2016, following a deadly attack on an Indian Army base in Uri of Kashmir, a team of the Indian Army crossed over into Pakistan to destroy terrorist launchpads in a surgical strike.

This latest operation comes just days after over 40 Indian paramilitary personnel were killed when a JeM cadre detonated an improvised explosive device after ramming his SUV into their convoy in Kashmir’s Pulwama town.

The Indian government blamed the Pakistani establishment for the outrage and vowed to respond strongly; prime minister Narendra Modi is said to have given a “free hand” to the military in the matter. The Pakistan government led by prime minister Imran Khan had meanwhile warned India against any misadventure and had offered to investigate the Pakistan connection, if any, of the Pulwama attack.

These developments come just weeks ahead of the Indian general elections which are expected to be held sometime in April-May.