India’s air strike on Pakistan militant camp escalates tensions, with Islamabad promising retaliation
- The incursion follows the deadly February 14 suicide bombing in India’s half of Kashmir that killed at least 40 troops
India said Tuesday its warplanes attacked a militant camp where Pakistan-backed fighters were preparing suicide attacks on its cities, sending tensions between the arch-rivals to a new peak.
A “very large number” of militants from the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) group were killed in the nightime attack, according to the foreign ministry, while Pakistan said its fighter jets scrambled to force the Indian jets back and that there were no casualties.
Pakistan’s National Security Committee, after a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, condemned the airstrike and said it would “respond at the time and place of its choosing”.
Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said Delhi acted on “credible intelligence” that fighters from JeM were being trained for another attack.
“A very large number of Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen [suicide] action were eliminated,” he said.