TEHRAN, Feb 26 - India says it has conducted airstrikes against “terror camps” inside Pakistan, shortly after the Pakistani military accused New Delhi of violating its territory in the Kashmir region.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - “Twelve Mirage 2000 Indian fighter jets struck major terrorist camps across the Line of Control (LoC) and completely destroyed it [sic] by shelling 1,000 kg bombs,” unnamed Indian Air Force sources told Asian News International, and Indian news agency based in New Delhi, on Tuesday.
An Indian government minister confirmed the airstrikes on Twitter.
“Air Force carried out aerial strike early morning today at terror camps across the LoC (Line of Control) and Completely destroyed it,” Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat tweeted.
Pakistan’s military had earlier accused India of violating its airspace when its military jets crossed the LoC in Kashmir and “released a payload.”
“Indian Air Force violated Line of Control. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircrafts (sic) gone back; Details to follow,” Military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor said in a Twitter post.
India’s Defense Ministry had said in an earlier statement that it had no information about the Pakistani accusation.
This is believed to be the first time India’s Air Force has crossed into Pakistan since 1971.
The confrontation comes amid rising tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi in the wake of a deadly bomb attack on an Indian security convoy in Pulwama, in Indian-administered Kashmir, on February 14. The attack, which was claimed by a Pakistan-based militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), killed more than 40 Indian troops.
Reacting to the attack at the time, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that those behind the bombing “have to pay a heavy price.”
An Indian commander then accused Pakistan’s main intelligence agency, the ISI, of having been involved.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan, who denied Islamabad’s involvement in the attack, vowed to retaliate any attack by India.
India and Pakistan have long been at loggerheads over the disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir. They have fought four wars since their partition in 1947, three of them over Kashmir.
Pakistan is widely accused of arming and training militants.
The Indian military incursion now risks sparking a conflict between the two nuclear-armed rivals, which partitioned in 1947.
Source: Press TV
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