While addressing an election rally in Ahmedabad on Sunday, BJP president Amit Shah claimed that over 250 terrorists were killed in the Balakot air strike carried out by the Indian Air Force on the 13th day of Pulwama attack.

“After Uri, our forces went into Pakistan and carried out surgical strikes. They avenged the death of our soldiers. After Pulwama, everyone thought there could be no surgical strikes, what will happen? But under (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi’s leadership, the government carried out an air strike after the 13th day and killed more than 250 terrorists,” Amit Shah stated during the ‘Lakshya JITO’ program. The claim was made by the BJP president even though an official count of the number of terrorists killed in the air strike on Pakistan’s terror camp Balakot is yet to be made.  Senior Congress leader Manish Tewari accused the BJP of “milking” the air strikes for political gain.

In an overnight operation following the Pulwama attack that claimed the lives of over 40 CRPF personnel due to a suicide bombing by a Jaish-e-Mohammed militant, India struck the biggest training camp of Jaish, dropping 1000 kg explosives across the Line of Control in Balakot on February 26.

AVM RGK Kapoor said "it would be premature to say that what is the number of casualties that we have been able to inflict on those camps and what is the number of deaths," BUT @AmitShah says over 250 Terrorists killed in airstrike. Is this not milking Air Strikes for Politics????

— Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) March 4, 2019