Did IAF jets miss Balakot targets? New satellite images show madrasa building still standing

Week after Indian Air Force’s combat jets ‘destroyed’ Jaish-e-Mohammed’s training camps in Pakistan’s Balakot, a Reuters report suggest that the madrasa buildings are still standing with no visible impact of the aerial attack. The Reuters has the satellite images of Balakot, which were taken hours after the February 26 air strike. According to the report, the satellite images provided by Planet Labs Inc, the site in question has no craters, mounds or holes in the roofs of the buildings. The ruling BJP has claimed that around 300 terrorists were killed in the air strike. However, there has been no official sequenced of event or proof shared by the Narendra Modi government on the air strike.

The San Francisco-based company has satellite images with high resolution. The images from Planet Labs, which show details as small as 72 cm (28 inches), offer a clearer look at the structures the Modi government said it attacked, the Reuters report said. According to the report, the site’s satellite images remain unchanged since 2018. “The high-resolution images don’t show any evidence of bomb damage,” Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Project at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

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The report comes at a time when the air strike proofs have sparked a massive political battle in the election-bound nation. On Tuesday, Prime minister Narendra Modi had said that those demanding the proof of the surgical strike are like the ‘poster boys’ of Pakistan. Though several details have surfaced in media regarding the aerial strike, but the government has not put out an official statement on the events.

Earlier on Monday, Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa had said that the target was 'clearly hit' when the IAF jets struck Jaish-e-Mohammed’s terror camp in Balakot on February 26. However, the IAF chief clarified that they don't count number of casualties and it will be given by the government. "We hit our target. IAF is not in a postilion to clarify the number of casualties. The government will clarify that. We don't count human casualties, we count what targets we have hit or not," he said while addressing a press conference in Coimbatore. This was the first press briefing by the Air Chief Marshal after the air strike across LoC in which around 250 terrorists were reportedly killed.

HIGHLIGHTS

• After Pulwama attack, IAF jets destroyed Jaish's terror camp.
• It resulted in worst tension between two nulcear powers.
• Pakistan has been denying any impact of teh airstrike.