Pakistan’s military has accused India’s aircraft of crossing into its territory and carrying out an air strike, scrabbling its own jets in response. Pakistani villagers were in the area where Indian jets struck and said they heard four loud bangs at approximately 3am, according to Reuters. Shaky footage shows bright flashes of light being dropped from a jet at night time. At least 13 bombs appear to be dropped from the aircraft.
A senior government source said that 300 militants had been killed in the strikes, but no further details were provided.
However in a conflicting report, Pakistan’s military has said there were no casualties from the air attack.
Pakistan downplayed the severity of airstrike, saying its own warplanes had chased off the Indian aircraft, which had released their “payload” in a forested area, causing no casualties and no serious material damage.
Military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor tweeted early on Tuesday: “Indian aircrafts’ intrusion across LOC in Muzafarabad Sector within AJ&K was 3-4 miles. Under forced hasty withdrawal aircrafts released payload which had free fall in open area. No infrastructure got hit, no casualties. Technical details and other important information to follow.”
12 Mirage 2000 warplanes dropped 1,000kg bombs on militant training camps according to sources speaking to The Times of India.
The paper reports that the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hizbul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammed armed groups were targeted.
The Indian Air Force has been placed on high alert across the border with Pakistan in case of any response.
India’s military has taken steps necessary to defend the country, a government minister said after Indian combat planes carried out raids on alleged militant camps in Pakistan.
Prakash Javadekar, human resource development minister, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given a free hand to the military to respond to an attack on an Indian security convoy in disputed Kashmir on Feb. 14 that has raised tensions.
Pakistan downplayed Tuesday’s incident, saying there were no casualties and that Indian jets “released a payload” hastily in a forest area after crossing Kashmir’s Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border between the two countries.
Mr Javadekar said: ”This was a necessary step for the defence of the country, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given the armed forces a free hand. The whole country stands behind the armed forces.”
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Tuesday that “better sense” should prevail in India after Indian jets crossed into Pakistan and carried out what one Indian minister called an airstrike on militant terror camps.
Qureshi warned India not to challenge Pakistan and said “better sense should prevail in India”, according to a statement cited by state-run Radio Pakistan.
The statement added: ”The Foreign Minister said the nation should not be worried over the Indian act as the defenders of the country are fully prepared to respond to any misadventure.”