Conducted 3 Air Strikes in 5 Years, But I'll Tell You Only About 2, Says Rajnath Singh

New Delhi: Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said that other than the surgical strike across the LoC in 2016 and the air strikes inside Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack, there was a "third strike" as well. The Minister, however, stopped short of providing details for the third one.

“In last five years, we have conducted air strikes thrice and have been successful. Will inform you about two, but not the third one," Rajnath Singh was quoted as saying by news agency ANI at a rally in Mangaluru.

India sent its fighter jets inside Pakistan territory on February 26 to take out terrorist training camps in a move that it termed a non-military pre-emptive strike. The aerial strikes were in response to the Pulwama attack that killed 40 CRPF personnel. The attack on CRPF jawans was claimed by Jaish-e-Mohammed, whose founder Masood Azhar is based in Pakistan.

While in September 2016, Indian forces crossed the Line of Control to destroy terror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. This was in response to Pakistani terrorists attacking an army base in Uri in Kashmir, killing 19 soldiers.

Singh underlined that "it is no more a weak India. "...leaving aside all our differences, we have to stand together. Time and again India has done this."

Singh said the Indian government had given a strong message to Pakistan after the Pulwama attack.

He also said that Pakistan would have to pay a huge price if it continued to promote terrorism. "The country will not provoke anyone, but will not leave anyone if provoked," he said.

He also said that no force in the country could deter the BJP from its fight against terrorism and the party would come back to power at the Centre with renewed force. Singh said the BJP had risen to heights from a party having only two seats in Parliament way back in the eighties.

Earlier in the day, PM Modi said that Pakistan was so scared after India's air strike that it began crying 'Modi ne maara' (Modi hit us). "We were quiet because we didn't want to wake people up at 3 am. But Pakistan was so scared that they began tweeting at 5 in the morning," he said, slamming opposition parties for questioning the strikes and India's armed forces.

On Friday, Rajnath Singh had said that the IAF pilots were on a targeted mission to destroy terrorist facility in Pakistan and did not go on any pleasure trip or to shower petals.

He said Pakistan's desperation after the air strike in Balakot was reasonable, but it is sad that a few people in India are in a shock and asking for proof of its success.