India on Tuesday conducted pre-dawn surgical strike in Pakistan knocking off terror camps and launch pads using a squadron of Mirage and 1000 kilograms of bombs that killed as many as 300 terrorists.
The brother-in-law of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, Yusuf Azhar was the prime target of the Indian air strikes. He was involved in the 1999 hijack of Indian Airlines plane IC-814 and was on Interpol lookout notice since 2000.
Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Gauri was heading the terror camp in Balakot, which was targeted and destroyed by the IAF. Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said it was impossible to believe that such facilities, where hundreds of terrorists are trained, can operate without the knowledge of government of Pakistan.
It may be recalled that India had to release JeM chief Masood Azhar in exchange for the passengers who were onboard the Indian aircraft IC-814.
