Operation Bandar

The February 26 cross-border airstrike carried out by the Indian Air Force was codenamed Operation Bandar. The operation was aimed at bombing a terrorist hideout in Pakistan’s Balakot.

Operation Bandar was an intelligence-led, non-military, pre-emptive operation that targetted a camp run by the Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. The Balakot airstrike was India s response to the February 14 Pulwama suicide attack which killed 40 jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force.

Under Operation Bandar, Indian Air Force’s Mirage-2000 fighter jets took off from airbases in India crossed the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir and targetted the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Balakot with precision, guided missiles.