Squadron that bombed Balakot makes long-range practice strike

New Delhi, Feb 27 (PTI): The fighter pilots of the same Indian Air Force squadron that bombed a Jaish-e-Mohammed camp in Pakistan’s Balakot two years ago carried out a long-range precision strike against a practice target, sources have said.
The practice bombing, carried out very recently, was meant to mark the second anniversary of the airstrike on February 26, 2019 in response to a suicide attack by a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama that killed over 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel.
Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria on Saturday flew a multi-aircraft sortie with the units to commemorate the occasion along with the squadron pilots.
On February 26, 2019, Indian Air Force fighter jets crossed the Line of Control and destroyed terror launch pads in Balakot.
The strikes were undertaken days after 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed in a terror attack in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir on February 14.
12 Mirage 2000 of the IAF had struck the Jaish-e-Mohammed camp in Balakot, some 80 km from the Line of Control (LoC). The Mirage 2000 has been the go-to aircraft for the IAF for decades as it’s one of the most versatile platforms anywhere. The multirole fighter jet flew sorties in the Kargil War in 1999 as well, dropping laser-guided bombs on enemy bunkers perched atop difficult-to-reach mountaintops.