Government Claims , The Pre-Emptive Strike Killed Several Members Of The Jaish-e-Mohammed

Foreign Secretary Vijay Keshav Gokhale addresed the media on the air strike in Pakistan’s Balakote . “In an intelligence lead operation in the early hours today, India struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot. This non-military pre-emptive action was specifically targetted at the biggest JeM camp in Balakot and a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commander and Jihadis were eliminated. The camp was controlled by Maulana Yusuf Azhar, the brother-in-law of Jaish-E-Mohammed head, Masood Azhar.

The camp is located at a hilltop in deep forests far away from civilian settlements. The selection of the target was done to avoid civilian casualties.”

“On February 14th, a suicide terror attack led to the martyrdom of our jawans. The Jaish-e-Mohammed is responsible for the series of attacks including the Parliament attack in 2001 and the Pathankot attack.

“Credible intelligence was received that the Jaish-e-Mohammed was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country and fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose.