Surgical strike 2.0: Pulwama Revenge: Know the Facts

26 February: 21 minutes, 12 jets, a big target: This is what the Indian Air Force (IAF) did in Pakistan while you were asleep. Slowly, the details started coming in and it became apparent that India had avenged the Jaish-e-Muhammad attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama less than two weeks ago. This is said to be the first cross-border air strike India has carried out in nearly five decades. Here are details from various reports based on information from diverse sources:

• The strike carried on by India on 26 February, 2019 happened nearly 2 weeks after the Pulwama terror attack in which around 44 CRPF jawana were martyred.
• Indian fighter jets reportedly dropped 1000 kilogram bombs on terror camps across the LOC on Tuesday.
• As per IAF reports, 3 terror launch pads and Jaish-e-Mohammad control rooms were destroyed while killing around 200-300 terrorists in only 21 minutes.

• Balakot, which is 24 km northwest of Muzaffarabad, capital of PoK, was bombed between 3.45 am and 3.53 am. Balakot is in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

• Another location in Muzaffarabad was hit between 3.48 am and 3.55 am.
• The last to be hit was Chakoti, between 3.58 am and 4.04 am.

• The Indian government further confirmed destroying the biggest camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Pakistan.
• First time since 1971 war, Indian Air Force used in Pakistan-controlled airspace. During the 1999 Kargil conflict, the Vajpayee government decided to restrict the use of IAF to India’s own side of LOC.

• Balakot airstrike target not far from where Osama bin Laden was killed in a raid by US forces in 2011. Balakot is just 60 km north of Abbottabad, where the Pakistan Military Academy is located, and was the last home of Osama bin Laden.

• Data available on websites tracking planes indicated that an early warning aircraft of the IAF along with an IL-78 refueler was up in the air around the time the incident was reported.
• The five Mirage 2000s were backed up by more fighter aircraft of the same kind, along with a number of Sukhoi Su-30 MKIs, a mid-air refueller and two Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS).

• Israeli-made bomb was pre-fed with GPS coordinates and an image of the camp, which featured six barracks, each at least two or three storeys high. The Spice 2000 uses a Digital Seen Matching Area Correlator (DSMAC) technology which automatically matches the target, as it zooms in, with the image that has been pre-fed, besides the GPS coordinates. The precision-guided bomb can be used day or night, and also has anti-GPS jammer, which means that the GPS homing technology cannot be jammed by the enemy.
• PM Modi chaired a high level security meeting in New Delhi just after the strike.

• Pakistan on Tuesday “strongly rejected India’s claim” of targeting terrorist camp near Balakot and causing heavy casualties even as it vowed to respond “at the time and place of its choosing” to what it called India’s “uncalled for aggression”.

#India should wait for our response that will come differently and as a surprise: DG #ISPRhttps://t.co/LibnqfTTnj@ImranKhanPTI @SMQureshiPTI @Asad_Umar @ForeignOfficePk @FaisalJavedKhan @pid_gov @MoIB_Official #Balakot #PakistanAirForce #IndianFailedStrike @sherryrehman pic.twitter.com/EYR7UB5nXp

— Radio Pakistan (@RadioPakistan) February 26, 2019

• Photos released by intelligence agencies show that amid the several features of the Balakot terror camp were staircases painted with the images of flags of US, UK and Israel — countries considered to be the enemy by Islamic terrorist organisations. According to the intelligence dossier, the flags were intended to “develop feelings of hatred against enemy countries in terrorist cadres”. The hatred against these nations comes from terrorist notions of jihad (holy war) against the Western world.

• Bollywood salutes Indian Air Force after Balakot airstrike. “Mess with the best, die like the rest. Salute #IndianAirForce. @narendramodi,” Ajay Devgn tweeted. Paresh Rawal wrote, “A TRULY BEAUTIFUL GOOD MORNING. THANKS @narendramodi SIR AND BRAVEHEARTS OF OUR ARMY. JAI HO.”
• External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told media persons, “Leaders of all political parties were present at the meeting. I am happy to inform that all the parties were united on the issue. They congratulated the Indian Air Force for the strike and said that they stand by the move.”

• External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also told leaders that she has spoken to some foreign ministers, including those from Bangladesh and Afghanistan. She is said to have spoken with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Swaraj is scheduled to brief the Chinese Foreign Minister and Russian Foreign Minister tomorrow.
• In his first public address since IAF’s strike, PM Modi assured countrymen that India is in safe hands.