4 Years Of Pulwama Attack: ‘Operation Bandar’, A Successful Retaliation By The Indian Air Force

As a response to the Pulwama terror attack, 12 IAF Mirage-2000 fighter jets struck on Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp in Balakot inside Pakistan in the early hours on February 26 with precision guided munitions.

Pulwama Attack Anniversary 2023: The Indian Air Force (IAF) executed ‘Operation Bandar’ on February 26, 2019, in retaliation to the 2016 Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF personnel. Post the attack, on 15th (February) itself, the Prime Minister had called for a CCS meeting to take stock of the event and see what should be done. As a response to the attack, 12 IAF Mirage-2000 fighter jets struck on Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp in Balakot inside Pakistan in the early hours on February 26 with precision guided munitions.

Balakot Air Strike ‘Operation Bandar’

1. The air strike by the Indian Air Force (IAF) on a terrorist training camp in Balakot, Pakistan, was code-named ‘Operation Bandar’.
2. The attacks were carried out at 3.30am and within a few minutes after dropping the bombs on their designated targets, the Indian Air Force planes returned to their bases.
3. To maintain secrecy till the mission was executed, the Mirages took off directly from their home base in Gwalior at the time of the mission crossing Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir to the target area and back. “Everything was carried on as usual in the run-up to it to maintain secrecy,” a defence official had earlier stated.
4. As per the Air Force briefings to the government, 80 per cent of the bombs had been dropped successfully on their targets and had carried out the requisite damage to the enemy locations.
5. The operations were ably supported by the indigenous Airborne Early Warning and Control systems (AEW&C) plane Netra.
6. The Indian Air Force had also kept its team of Garud commandos on stand-by for any kind of operations that may have been required due to any kind of emergency there.
7. Pakistan refused to acknowledge that Indian fighter jets had hit any consequential targets in Balakot, but the fact that IAF aircraft had flown into Pakistani airspace embarrassed Islamabad.
8. The Pakistani Air Force tried to carry out a similar attack against Indian military targets but failed to do so. It was during this time that Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman shot down an F-16 plane using his R-73 air-to-air missile fired from his MiG-21 plane.
9. IAF Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, later took a hit, but survived and was taken prisoner by Pakistani army. India urged his immediate, secure return. Next day, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, returned the pilot.
10. Varthaman was, later, awarded Vir Chakra and promoted to the position of Group Captain.

About Balakot

Balakot, a town in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, is about 50km from the Line of Control(LoC) and known among the intelligence agencies as “epicentre of jihad”. It has been on the radar of American forces for a long time and is 50km from Abbottabad where al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces.

The camp was led by Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, brother-in-law of JeM chief Masood Azhar. The target was identified around February 20 and 21 with the Army and Air Force doing the air surveillance along the LoC.