PAKISTAN: INDIAN FIGHTER JETS
CARRIED OUT LIMITED AIRSTRIKE
NEW DELHI - Pakistan said Tuesday that India launched a limited airstrike in Pakistani territory, an apparent act of retaliation for a terrorist attack that killed 40 Indian soldiers this month.
According t o Pakistan’s military spokesperson, the Indian fighter jets crossed the line that divides much of Kashmir between India and Pakistan, a boundary that neither country considers an international border.
Faced with a “timely and effective response” from the Pakistan Air Force, the Indian jets released their “payload in haste while escaping,” the spokesman tweeted early Tuesday. “No casualties or damage.”
Asian News International, a news agency viewed as close to the Indian government, reported that 12 Indian fighter jets crossed into Pakistani-controlled territory at 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, citing unnamed sources in the Indian Air Force. The report said the jets dropped large bombs on a “major terrorist camp.”
A spokesman for India’s Ministry of Defence said he had “no information” on the strikes. He declined to comment on the accuracy of the ANI report. “I can’t say anything on this right now,” he said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has faced intense pressure to respond to the Feb. 14 attack, which was claimed by Jaish-e-muhammad, a Pakistan-based group designated as a terrorist organization by the United States.
India accuses Pakistan of sheltering and supporting groups like Jaish-e-muhammad. Since 1989, such groups have waged an insurgency to end Indian rule in Kashmir. The Himalayan region has been divided between India and Pakistan for more than 70 years.