Ex Pakistan Diplomat Admits India Killed 300 Terrorists in Balakot Airstrike

New Delhi: Pakistan has so far refused to acknowledge that if suffered any casualty during the Indian Air Force’s Balakot airstrike there. However, former Pakistani diplomat Agha Hilaly on Saturday admitted on a news television show that 300 terrorists had died in the airstrike carried out by India on Pakistan soil on February 26, 2019, following Pulwama terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir. Notably, this confession goes against the zero casualties claim made by Islamabad at that time. Also Read - ATS Arrests Ex-Serviceman For Sending 'Sensitive Information' To Pakistan, Recovers Documents

“India crossed the international border and did an act of war in which at least 300 were reported dead. Our target was different from theirs. We targeted their high command. That was our legitimate target because they are men of the military. We subconsciously accepted that a surgical strike — a limited action — did not result in any casualty. Now we have subconsciously told them that, whatever they will do, we’ll do only that much and won’t escalate,” said Agha Hilaly. Also Read - Pakistan Court Sentences Zakiur-Ur-Rehman Lakhvi to 15-Year Jail Term In Terror Funding Case

Soon after Indian Air Force had carried out a strike at a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror training camp at Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, as a face-saving measure, had refused to acknowledge the presence of terrorists who were killed during the airstrike.