Post-strike images of the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Pakistan’s Balakot appear to show bomb impact points on a large structure in addition to significant damage on the ground at the site.
On February 26, the Indian Air Force had struck the Jaish-e-Mohammed’s Balakot training camp, using Mirage 2000 fighters armed with SPICE 2000 satellite-guided bombs.
According to IAF, they used the “penetrator” variant of the weapon, which is designed to pierce buildings and structures but not necessarily bring them down.
Images contradicts claims by Reuters
Earlier on Wednesday, news agency Reuters, quoting satellite imagery experts, had disputed the claim of the Indian Air Force and the Government of India that they had successfully struck the Jaish-e-Mohammed’s Balakot camp.
According to Jeffrey Lewis, Director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Project at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, “The high-resolution images don’t show any evidence of bomb damage.”
However, a closer analysis of pre-blast and post-blast images indicate 4 likely bomb entry points on the roof of the largest structure at the camp.
It also shows significant changes on the ground and possibly structures a short distance from the building mentioned above.
According to Colonel Vinayak Bhat, a retired satellite imagery expert, the images accessed first by The Print show 4 dark spots on roof, missing tents and burnt earth but walls and buildings intact.
On last Monday, the Chief of Air Staff BS Dhanoa said.’ ‘The target has been clearly amplified by the Foreign Secretary in his statement and if we planned to hit the target, we hit the target… otherwise why would they (Pakistan) have responded? If we had dropped bombs in the jungle, there would have been no need to respond.’ He, however, said it was not up to the IAF to “count casualties” on the ground.
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