Mangaluru, Mar 9: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said that India has conducted air strikes by crossing the border three times during the last five years of the BJP-led government at Centre.
He further said that he would tell people only about two and not reveal about the third one. On February 26, Indian Air Force (IAF) conducted pre-emptive strike at Jaish-e-Mohammad camp in Pakistan's Balakot. The government, while confirming the air strike, said that a 'large number of terrorists' were killed. It was then reported that Indian fighter planes crossed the border for the first time after 1971 war. "In the last five years, three air strikes have been successfully conducted. I'll tell you about two but will not say anything about the third one," the Home Minister said in Karnataka's Mangaluru today. The February 26 air strike was seen as India's retaliation to the terrorist attack on CRPF convoy in South Kashmir's Pulwama on February 14 which left 40 security personnel martyred. The very next day after strike at Balakot, Pakistan Air Force fighters had tried entering Indian airspace in Kashmir in a bid to target military installations. But, IAF fighters thwarted the attack and shot down one Pakistani F-16 fighter. Before that in 2016, India had carried out a surgical strike at terrorist camps across LoC and destroyed several terror launchpads.