IAF hits targets, doesn't count casualties: Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa

New Delhi: Amid political debate heating up over the success of the air strikes against Jaish-e-Mohammad’s terror camp in Balakot last week, Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa said on Monday that Indian Air Force (IAF) doesn’t calculate number of casualties and it is for government to provide details on the terrorists killed in the operation.

The IAF chief asserted that a MiG-21 Bison indeed shot down a Pakistan Air Force’s F-16. He also said that Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman would fly a fighter jet only if he is medically fit as emergency ejection from aircraft takes a toll on your body.

“We hit our target. The Air Force doesn’t calculate casualty numbers, the government does that,” he said. The IAF chief said that bomb damage assessment that is done after a mission only calculates whether targets have been hit or not. “We can’t count how many people have died. That depends on how many people were there. We see if we have hit the target or not,” he said.

“If we plan to hit the target, we hit the target. Otherwise, why would Pakistan have responded. If we had dropped bombs in the jungle, there would be no need to respond,” he said.

He also said that the operation is still on. “I will not comment on the ongoing operations because they are still ongoing,” he said.
BJP president Amit Shah had said that 250 terrorists were killed in the February 26 attack on a JeM camp in Balakot in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by the IAF.

Congress leaders Digvijay Singh, Kapil Sibal and Navjot Singh Sidhu have sought proof of IAF’s strike destroying the biggest camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot, Pakistan and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of politicising terror.

The IAF chief declined to comment on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that Rafale would have a made a difference.