Hundreds of Jaish-e-Mohammed militants and their trainers were sleeping in a ‘five-star camp’ in Balakot when they were hit by Indian airstrikes, according to the PTI.
Published : 26 Feb 2019, 04:05 PM
India had received intelligence that the group, which claimed responsibility for the Kashmir attack on Indian paramilitary police, had moved many members to the Balakot camp.
The hilltop forest camp can house 500 to 700 people, and even has a swimming pool along with cooks and cleaners.
Twelve Mirage 2000 jets pounded the camp with 1,000 kilograms of bombs around 3:30am Tuesday, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale. "The existence of such training facilities, capable of training hundreds of jihadis could not have functioned without the knowledge of the Pakistani authorities," he told a media briefing in New Delhi.
But Pakistan has vowed to prove India wrong, claiming there had been no deaths or casualties.
“Everyone at the camp was sleeping and Pakistani defence establishment had no clue that the attack was coming so deep into their country because they had expected a surgical strike on camps in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir near the Line of Control,” said the PTI report quoting sources close to the government.
About 325 terrorists and 25 to 27 trainers were moved to the camp, the biggest operated by the Pakistan-based group, after one of their suicide bombers killed 40 Indian paramilitary personnel in Kashmir’s Pulwama on Feb 14.
Fighters and other aircraft took off from several bases at the same time, leaving Pakistani defence officials confused as to where they were heading, the sources said.
“A small group of aircraft broke away from the swarm and headed to Balakot where "the sleeping terrorists were sitting ducks for the Indian bombing," said one source.
"They (Pakistan forces) had no idea that Balakot was to be the target ... when the pictures come in you will see only khandhar (ruins) of the once-flourishing camp", said the source.
Balakot is some 80 kilometres from the Line of Control, which acts as a de facto border between the two countries that have fought three wars since their independence in 1947.
The area is near Abbotabad where Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in hiding by covert US forces, who had also sneaked into Pakistan to carry out the operation, catching the entire Pakistani military unawares.