India planned to strike Jaish HQ in Bahawalpur, dropped idea at last minute

Indian Air Force's Mirage 2000 fighters bombed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Balakot on Tuesday. (Photo: Getty)
India planned to strike the headquarters of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in Pakistan, but dropped the idea at the last moment, sources say.
Early on Tuesday morning, Indian Air Force Mirage 2000 fighters bombed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Balakot, located in Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, and New Delhi announced later that a large number of terrorists had been killed in the pre-emptive, non-military action.
Sources say the JeM and LeT headquarters -- located in Bahawalpur and Muridke, both in Pakistan's Punjab province -- were dropped as potential targets for two reasons: the possibility of collateral damage to civilians and retaliation by the Pakistan Air Force.
Both places were heavily populated -- unlike the Balakot camp, which was on a hilltop -- and an airstrike could have hurt civilians.
Masood Azhar, the chief of Jaish-e-Mohammed, is based out of the headquarters in Bahawalpur.
MIND GAME
During Tuesday's airstrikes, two units of Air Force fighters kept the Pakistan Air Force engaged in two sectors -- the Lahore-Sialkor border and the Okara-Bahawalpur sector.
A third unit managed to enter Pakistani territory from the Keran-Athamuqam border.
The Air Force used the ploy to distract Pakistan Air Force patrol missions, and to allow the third, relatively heavier formation to enter Pakistani territory.
Before Pakistani jets could scramble and confront the Indian formation, it had returned to Indian territory after bombing the targets.

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