India said it has conducted air strikes on an alleged terrorist training camp across the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border between India and Pakistan in the disputed Kashmir region, in a significant escalation of hostilities between the two nuclear armed powers, CNN informs.
The apparent strike took place in the early hours of Tuesday morning, and came in response to what India said was “credible intelligence” about potential terrorist attacks, India’s foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale told reporters in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Gokhale said the alleged camp was run by Jaish-e-Mohammed, the group India blames for a suicide car bomb attack in Pulwama in Indian administered Kashmir that killed 40 Indian paramilitary soldiers on February 14.
It was the worst attack on Indian forces since the beginning of an insurgency in the region in the late 1980s, according to analysts. Following the announcement, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi warned India not to challenge Pakistan.
In a statement Tuesday, Qureshi said better sense should prevail in India and that defenders of Pakistan were “fully prepared to respond to any misadventure”.
India’s account came hours after a spokesperson for the Pakistan Armed Forces tweeted that Indian military aircraft crossed into Pakistan airspace, but were driven back.
Pakistan Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor alleged that Indian jets crossed the Line of Control (LoC) and were pushed back by Pakistan Air Force jets that were “scrambled” to the scene.
“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,” said Ghafoor in a tweet, adding that there were no casualties, nor any damage to Pakistani property or military assets reported in the incident.
In the statement released Tuesday, India said “a very large number” of militants were eliminated in the airstrike operation. It believed the alleged camp was a military training facility headed by Maulana Yousuf Azhar, the brother-in-law of Masood Azhar — chief of Jaish-e-Mohammed.
India had previously claimed to have “incontrovertible evidence” that Pakistan had a “direct hand” in the Pulwama bomb attack. “It is a well-known fact that Jaish-e-Mohammed and its leader Masood Azhar are based in Pakistan. These should be sufficient proof for Pakistan to take action,” India’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted February 19.
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