Senior SP leader calls IAF strike on Jaish camp inside Pak 'false'

In a bizarre development, a former UP minister and senior Samajwadi Party leader has called the air strike by Indian Air Force on a Jaish terrorist camp inside Pakistan "false".

"BJP leaders are liars. Is the surgical strike anything new? TV channels were airing it today. This (that an air strike will happen) was known for 10 days," SP leader Vinod Kumar, who is also known as Pandit Singh, told party workers at a programme in Gonda Tuesday.

"It was known for five days that they (the government) have colluded with Pakistan and decided to drop a couple of bombs on an abandoned house. And then issue a statement (to the media)," he claimed, adding the air strike was "false".

The SP leader also accused the BJP of "spreading terror".

"By forming government in Jammu and Kashmir with Mehbooba Mufti, they proved that they had no hesitation in joining hands with those who supported terrorism," Singh claimed.

Officials said the Indian Air Force bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp inside Pakistan, killing over 350 terrorists, trainers and senior commanders.

The swift and precise "preemptive" air strike was conducted early Tuesday, they said.

The BJP had formed a political alliance with Mufti's PDP in J&K, but it pulled out after three years in June 2018, amid worsening security challenges in the state.