Exclusive: Balakot airstrike mission was codenamed Operation Bandar

The Indian Air Force mission to bomb a terrorist hideout in Pakistan's Balakot was codenamed 'Operation Bandar', defence sources have revealed to India Today TV. The February 26 cross-border airstrike was a rare instance when the Indian Air Force crossed the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir and bombed targets in Pakistani territory.

India had termed the airstrike an "intelligence-led, non-military, pre-emptive" operation that targetted a camp run by the Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot, a town located in the Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

While India did not officially say so, the Balakot airstrike was seen as a response to the February 14 Pulwama suicide attack, in which 40 jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force were killed. Jaish-e-Mohammed had claimed responsibility for the Pulwama suicide bombing.

Two weeks later, Indian Air Force's Mirage-2000 fighter jets took off from airbases in India before dawn on February 26. The IAF jets crossed the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir and targetted the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Balakot with precision, guided missiles.

The Balakot airstrike capped days of rising tensions between India and Pakistan. The airstrike pushed Delhi and Islamabad to the brink of an armed conflict, with the Pakistan Air Force attempting retaliatory strikes a day after on February 27.

The Indian Air Force scrambled its fighter jets in response, leading to a rare dogfight between the Indian and Pakistani jets in Jammu and Kashmir skies. An IAF MiG-21 Bison fighter jet shot down a Pakistani F-16 during the dogfight.

The MiG, however, too was shot down and its pilot -- Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman -- was captured by Pakistani forces. Wing Commander Abhinandan was released two days later, a development that calmed tensions between India and Pakistan.