 "Border Security Force (BSF) soldiers patrol near the India Pakistan border fencing at Garkhal in Akhnoor, about 35 kilometers west of Jammu, August 13, 2019. File Photo/AP")
The Border Security Force (BSF) has said it destroyed a terrorist launchpad in Pakistan’s Sialkot.
The development comes at a time when India and Pakistan are locked in an exchange of fire since last evening. While Pakistan launched drones on Friday evening, it escalated with attacks across northern and western India with missiles and warplanes. One ballistic missile, which was intercepted, is understood to have been launched at Delhi. India in response struck at least three Pakistani airbases .
In a statement on Saturday morning, the BSF said that after Pakistan began unprovoked cross-border fire at BSF posts in the Jammu region around 9 pm on Friday, the BSF responded and destroyed a terrorist launchpad across the border.
“BSF responded in a commensurate manner, causing widespread damage to the posts and assets of the Pakistan Rangers along the International Boundary. The terrorist lanch pad at Looni, district Sialkot, opposite Akhnoor area was completely destroyed by the BSF,” the statement read.
Since last night, Pakistan has targeted Indian military bases at Udhampur, Pathankot, Jammu, and Adampur. Pakistan has also claimed to have struck storage sites of Brahmos missiles. In yet another escalation, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday morning called a meeting of National Command Authority (NCA) , the top decision-making body on the country’s nuclear weapons.
Kabir Taneja, a counterterrorism expert at Observer Research Foundation (ORF), said on X that it appears to be a sign of desperation.