While addressing the mediapersons soon after the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) aerial strike across the LoC, Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale confirmed the strike and said that India is committed in taking all necessary measures to fight the menace of terrorism. Gokhale said, “In an intelligence lead operation in the early hours today, India struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and goups of Jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen actions were eliminated. This facility at Balakot was headed by Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, brother-in-law of JeM Chief Masood Azhar. The government of India is firmly and resolutely committed to taking all necessary measures to fight the menace of terrorism. Hence, this non-military pre-emptive action was specifically targeted at the Jaish-e-Mohammed camp. The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualty. The facility is located in thick forest on a hilltop far away from any civilian presence.”

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