New Delhi: The Balakot bombing surely had one big casualty – ‘FACTS’ – and these have come to haunt both the claimants and the counter-claimants. The madrassa run by Jaish-e-Mohammed at Balakot, which was hit by the Indian Air Force fighter jets, appears to be still intact with no visible damage, as per high-resolution satellite images of the site, reports wire agency Reuters.
It says at least six buildings were visible on the site on March 4, six days after the air strike, and that the image was virtually identical to an April 2018 satellite photo of the facility.The satellite images from San Francisco-based private satellite operator Planet Labs are the first high-resolution satellite images publicly available and show details as small as 72 cm.
“There are no discernible holes in the roofs of buildings, no signs of scorching, blown-out walls, displaced trees around the madrasa or other signs of an aerial attack. The images cast further doubt on statements made over the last eight days by functionaries of the Modi government that the raids had hit all the intended targets.
The madrasa site is located near Jaba village and the town of Balakot in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.Twelve days after a JeM suicide bomber killed 40 CRPF troopers, India said it had struck the JeM’s biggest training camp at Balakot killing “a very large number” of terrorists and their trainers.
While Pakistan admitted that the IAF planes struck Balakot, it claimed that they returned when it scrambled its war planes and that there were no losses on the ground. However, IAF chief B.S. Dhanoa said the IAF planes had hit their target.