IAF conducts airstrikes at JeM’s biggest terror camp in Balakot, PoK

Indian Air Force conducted airstrikes at the biggest terror camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Balakot in the Pakistan Occupied areas of Jammu and Kashmir in the wee hours today.

Credible information was received that JeM was attempting other attacks in the country. A pre-emptive strike became important. India struck the biggest camp of JeM in Balakot, briefing media in New Delhi, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said.

He said, the airstrikes were a non-military pre-emptive action and they were conducted in a thick forest area to avoid civilian casualties. The camp was led by Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, brother in law of JeM Chief Masood Azhar.

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said, 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,

On 14 February 2019, a suicide terror attack was conducted by a Pak based terrorist organization Jaish-e-Mohammad, leading to the martyrdom of 40 brave jawans of the CRPF.

JeM has been active in Pakistan for the last two decades, and is led by Masood Azhar with its headquarters in Bahawalpur.

JeM, which is proscribed by the UN, has been responsible of a series of terrorist attacks including on the Indian Parliament in December 2001 and the Pathankot airbase in January 2016.

Information regarding the location of training camps in Pakistan and PoJK has been provided to Pakistan from time to time. Pakistan, however, denies their existence. The existence of such massive training facilities capable of training hundreds of jidhadis could not have functioned without the knowledge of Pakistan authorities.