Air Force Strikes Militant Camps In Pakistan

Indian warplanes have struck militant training camps on Pakistani territory in response to a deadly suicide bombing in Kashmir earlier this month, reports the Hindustan Times. 

On Tuesday, Indian air force Mirage 2000 jets dropped 1,000-pound (454-kg) laser-guided bombs on a major site operated by the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist group in Balakot in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, said Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale. 

The attack was based on credible intelligence and designed to prevent civilian casualties, the foreign secretary said. 

Pakistani jets were scrambled in response to the incursion and forced the Indian jets to drop their payloads as they flew away, said the Pakistani air force spokesman, as reported by the Dawn (Pakistan). 

The strikes were believed to target Yousuf Azhar, the brother-in-law of JeM chief Masood Azhar who is believed to have carried out the 1999 hijacking of an Indian passenger flight, reported the Times of India. 

Azhar is thought to conduct training, recruitment and financing for the terror group, reported the Print (India). 

As many as 300 terrorists, including trainers and leaders, may have been killed, said Gokhale. 

There were no immediate confirmations of these figures. India called the operation a "non-military pre-emptive action." 

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said that his country is preparing for all of eventualities and would respond "at the time and place of its choosing," reported Bloomberg News. 

The prime minister also rejected India's casualty figures. Locals told Reuters that one person was wounded in the strikes. 

The strikes, the first since the last direct conflict between the two countries in 1971, came amid growing pressure from India to confront JeM, which carried out a suicide bombing on Feb. 14 that killed 40 paramilitaries. 

New Delhi has long criticized Islamabad for fostering militant groups and failing to act against them.