New Delhi: The IAF has provided the government with proof that it hit targets during the February 26 airstrike, media reports have said. These reports are believed to contain 12 pages of high resolution satellite images which show that 80 per cent of the bombs deployed during the airstrike hit their intended targets.
These images are intended to counter the international media and Opposition narrative that the bombs missed their target. Accusing India of “eco-terrorism”, Pakistan has claimed that Indian warplanes bombed a hilly forest area near the town of Balakot that damaged pine trees and forest land.
“The Indian Air Force Mirage 2000 fighter jets, which carried out the Balakot airstrike, dropped Israeli Spice 2000 precision bombs with “penetration warheads” during the raid.
These bombs “pierced roofs” of the buildings targeted and exploded inside. So the damage was “internal”,” sources were quoted as saying by India Today news portal. These satellite images show four bomb impact points on the roof of a large structure in addition to significant damage on the ground at the site of the camp, sources were cited as saying by NDTV.
The channel quoted military aviation specialist Angad Singh as saying, “Big penetrators [like the SPICE 2000] spend most of their mass on the casing”. “There is no hard and fast rule that a 2000-lb class bomb will wipe out half a hillside,” he said.