Centre not to reveal how many were killed in Balakot: Defence minister

New Delhi: Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday that the government will not disclose the number of terrorists killed in the Indian Air Force’s pre-emptive strike at the Jaish-e-Mohammed’s facility at Balakot in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

“No. We are not giving the numbers. Trust the government. Trust the forces. Numbers shall not be given,” the defence minister said.

Last week Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa, the Chief of Air Staff, had said the IAF doesn’t calculate the number of casualties and that it was for the government to give details on the terrorists killed in the operation.

The defence minister said the government had confirmed information that JeM’s trainers and new recruits for suicide bombing had started arriving at the Balakot camp from February 24. “We had intel. It was not a random hit,” said Ms Sitharaman.

She also said if Pakistan claims only trees were struck down during the IAF airstrike, then why were the Pakistani authorities not allowing foreign journalists to see the JeM training camp.