Balakot: Balakot was a major jihadi training hub and terror launch pad. It was hosting at least 200-300 Jiash cadres at the time of the attack; most of them have been neutralised, claim government sources. NSA Doval, while addressing the CCS meeting in New Delhi, said the demolished target was not an ordinary terror launch pad.
“It was a virtual garrison,” he said, adding that the facility had firing ranges, explosive test facilities, air-conditioned offices for trainers and barracks. “The facility was built with the assistance of the Army and the Inter-Services Intelligence,’’ he added. Doval is the architect of what is described as essentially an intelligence-driven air strike.
Jaish-e-Mohammed’s Mohammad Salim, alias Ustad Ghauri, the brother-in-law of Masood Azhar, was the operational head of the Markaz Syed Ahmed Saheed Training Camp, which was flattened when IAF Mirage 2000 aircraft dumped their lethal cargo.
An intelligence dossier accessed by India Today TV said the training camp was built on an area spread over six acres in a hilltop forest. It contained large halls and dormitories with accommodation for more than 600 people. It also contained facilities like swimming pool, gymnasium and a firing range for cadres. The dossier obtained by the news magazine also showed that flags of USA, UK, and Israel were painted on staircases of the facility.
The presence of such a large number of Jaish commanders, Doval said, was due to desperate measures taken by the ISI a week back,in view of the worldwide condemnation of the Pulwama terror attack. Balakot is 80 km from the Line of Control near Abbottabad where Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed by covert US forces, which caught the entire Pakistani military unaware. This time Doval caught them napping.