Pakistan Army test-fired short range ballistic Nasr missile days before Pulwama terror attack

NEW DELHI: Days before the February 14 Pulwama terror attack, Pakistan Army successfully conducted six test-fires of the short-range surface-to-surface ballistic Nasr missile between January 24 to 31.

Nasr, with a strike range of about 70-km, is a high precision, shoot and scoot weapon system with the ability of in-flight maneuverability. Pakistan Army claims that the missile can defeat any ballistic missile defence system now available in the country's neighbourhood or any other system being developed.

"The 2nd phase of this exercise was aimed at testing the extreme inflight maneuverability, including the end flight maneuverability; capable of defeating, by assured penetration, any currently available BMD system in our neighborhood or any other system under procurement/development," it said.

On February 14, over 2000 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel travelling in a convoy of 78 vehicles on Jammu-Srinagar highway was attacked by a vehicle-borne suicide bomber at Lethpora (near Awantipora) in the Pulwama district. The attack resulted in the death of at least 40 CRPF personnel and injured many others. Terror outfit Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) claimed responsibility for the attack and Kashmiri local Adil Ahmad Dar was identified as the suicide bomber.

Eleven days after the terror attack, Indian Air Force (IAF) Tuesday carried out “non-military pre-emptive action” aimed at JeM training camps and control rooms across the Line of Control. In a pre-dawn operation, 12 IAF Mirage 2000 fighters armed with Crystal Maze air-to-surface missiles and SPICE-2000 bombs launched a daring non-military pre-emptive strike on terror camps located in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir as well as deep inside the Pakistani mainland. In just about 21 minutes, three terror camps belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed had been obliterated and over 300 terrorists killed as the Mirage jets rained their lethal arsenal on them.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has summoned  a special meeting of the National Command Authority (NCA) which oversees the operational command and control of Pakistan's nuclear weapons.

Pakistan's National Security Council (NSC), which met to take stock of IAF airstrikes, also agreed to respond to any act of aggression by India after the violation of LoC by Indian fighter jets.