‘263 terrorists at Balakot camp ahead of air strike’

NEW DELHI: At least 263 rec- ruits had assembled at Jaish-e-Mohammed’s terror camp in Balakot just five days before the IAF strike on February 26, evidence accessed by Times Now has revealed.

At the time of the attack, almost all the trainers and recruits had access to mobile phones, the signals of which were closely tracked by the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO). After the IAF strikes, all the signals disappeared without a trace, intel sources said.

Those present at the Balakot facility included 18 senior commanders of JeM for training the terror recruits. In a huge blow to JeM, all of them, who were veterans of the war against the US in Afghanistan, are deemed missing. These include Mufti Umar, Maulana Javed, Maulana Aslam, Maulana Ajmal, Maulana Zubair, Maulana Abdul Gafur Kashmiri, Maulana Qudratullah, Maulana Qasim and Maulana Junaid. All of them were close to Masood Azhar and were handpicked by the JeM chief after the Afghanistan campaign.


Among the terror recruits, 83 had assembled for Daura-e-Aam or the beginners’ course while 91 came for Daura-e-Khas or the advanced training. Besides, 25 terrorists were selected for special training as fidayeens.

Intelligence sources revealed that more than a dozen staff, including cooks and guards, were also present.

The terror courses were to begin on March 1.