Bollywood lauds IAF for conducting surgical strike

Actor-producer Ajay Devgn tweeted, "Mess with the best, die like the rest. Salute #IndianAirForce. @narendramodi."

Actor Emraan Hashmi tweeted, "Fight fire with fire !! Respect @IAF_MCC. Much needed #SurgicalStrikes2"

Veteran actress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP, Hema Malini, tweeted, "What a fantastic & befitting reply to Pak’s atrocities in Pulwama! Hats off to our marvelous IAF boys & our Air Chief who have retaliated with precision after meticulous planning with the PM, the NSA, Army Chief & senior ministers. Our martyrs have been avenged! Jai Hind!"

Replying to a tweet by Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, senior actor Anupam Kher said: "Today will be a good day to start saluting Prime Minister @narendramodi too."

Actor and BJP MP, Paresh Rawal, said in the micro-blogging site, "A TRULY BEAUTIFUL GOOD MORNING. THANKS @narendramodi SIR AND BRAVEHEARTS OF OUR ARMY . JAI HO . "

Actor Akshay Kumar said: "Proud of our #IndianAirForce fighters for destroying terror camps. अंदर घुस के मारो ! Quiet no more!"

India confirms surgical strike:

The Indian government on Tuesday said the IAF had carried out a "non-military pre-emptive" surgical strike.

Briefing the media, India's foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale said the strike aimed at Jaish camps.

"In an intelligence led operation in the early hours of today, India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated. This facility at Balakot was headed by MAULANA YOUSUF AZHAR (alias USTAD GHOURI), the brother-in-law of MASOOD AZHAR, Chief of JeM," the foreign secretary said.

Reports said 1,000 kg bombs were dropped on Jaish bases across the LoC by multiple jets, including the IAF’s Mirage 2000.