Foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale on Tuesday confirmed Indian Air Force strike on the Jaish-e-Mohammed's terrorist camp at Balakot in Pakistan. "In the face of imminent danger, a non-military pre-emptive strike was absolutely necessary. As a result, India struck the largest militant camp in Balakot and eliminated a large number of terrorists," said Gokhale about the early morning strike against Pakistan on Tuesday. "Large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders were eliminated in largest JeM camp in Balakot. The camp was led by Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, brother in law of JeM Chief Masood Azhar."
Gokhale added that it was a "non-military, pre-empted action specifically targeted at terrorist activity" in Pakistan. "Credible information was received that JeM was attempting other attacks in the country. A pre-emptive strike became important," Gokhale said, adding that there were no civilian casualties in the strike. However, more details are awaited.
Gokhale accused Pakistan of taking no action to dismantle the terrorist groups breeding in their soil, despite repeated warnings from India.
The strike comes almost 18 days after more than 40 CRPF personnel were killed in a suicide attack in Kashmir's Pulwama on February 14. The Jaish-e-Mohammed had taken responsibility of the attack. Jaish-e-Mohammed was also behind the 2001 Parliament and 2016 Pathankot attacks
