Vice Chief of the Indian Air Force (IAF) Air Marshal Harjit Singh Arora on Friday said the terror factories are no longer safe anywhere in Pakistan and that the IAF has the capability to go across and strike them at their roots.
"As far as their (Pakistani) terror factories are concerned, they are no longer safe anywhere across the border. We have the will, capability and the political support to go across and strike them at their roots," he told ANI when asked about Balakot airstrike message to Pakistan.
Referring to Islamabad's nuclear threat to India, the IAF Vice Chief said, "Pakistan can keep talking about nuclear retaliation and its capability. We also possess a similar capability."
Last year, the IAF had carried out an airstrike in Pakistan's Balakot, targetting Jaish-e-Mohammad's (JeM) terror training camps. The airstrike came after the JeM claimed responsibility for a deadly terror attack on February 14 in Pulwama, killing 40 CRPF personnel.
Earlier today, IAF Chief RKS Bhadauria said that the force could have deployed twice the number of warplanes and launched more weapons during the Balakot airstrike, but chose to not do so in order to minimise collateral damage.
"The air force could have struck Balakot with twice the number of warplanes and launched four times the weapons but did not do that to ensure there was no collateral damage," the IAF chief said at the Centre for Air Power Studies seminar here.
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