Visuals of ammunition dump blown up today at JeM's Balakot moments before the IAF strike

More than 300 Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorists were 'sitting duck target' for the IAF after they were shifted from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) to a "five star, resort-like Balakot camp", sources said

New Delhi: More than 300 Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorists were reportedly “sleeping” at a “five-star, resort-style camp” in Balakot in Pakistan when the Indian Air Force carried out an air strike at the camp in the wee hours of Tuesday, killing at least 350 terrorists. Sources told news agency PTI that hundreds of ‘fFidayeen’ and their trainers had been shifted from Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) to the camp in hilltop forest in Balakot after the Pulwama attack on February 14.

The decision to move the terrorists to the camp ensured that the Fidayeen were “sitting ducks” for the Indian forces, who carried out the air strike on the biggest training camp of the Pakistan-based JeM terror group early Tuesday morning. The daring strike came 11 days after a JeM terrorist, Adil Ahmed Dar rammed an explosive-laden van into a CRPF convoy in Pulwama, resulting in the deaths of at least 40 CRPF Jawans.

Sources told the news agency that at least 325 terrorists and around 25 to 27 trainers were present at the Balakot camp. Reportedly, everyone at the camp was sleeping at the time of the attack, as the Pakistani establishment had no inkling of the strike because they expected India to conduct a surgical strike on camps in Pakistan occupied Kashmir near the Line of Control, sources said.

However, India had already received intelligence that the JeM had already shifted many of its in-training and hardcore terrorists to the Balakot camp, which is said to be large enough to house 500 to 700 people and has a swimming pool as well as cooks and cleaners, PTI reported.

Sources told the news agency that Pakistani defence officials were also confused about Indian forces’ main destination as several fighter and other aircraft flew from several air bases in Western and Central commands at nearly the same time. A small group of aircraft diverted from the swarm and reached the Balakot camp, where "the sleeping terrorists were sitting ducks for the Indian bombing,” as per the source.

"They had no idea that Balakot was to be the target ... when the pictures come in you will see only Khandhar (ruins) of the once-flourishing camp,” the source told the news agency. The terror camp was around 20 kilometres away from Balakot town.

Hours after the aerial strike, Foreign Secretary Vijay K Gokhale told the media that the "non-military preemptive action was specifically targeted at the terrorist camp" located at Balakot, which is about 195 km from Islamabad.