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UK’s The Guardian newspaper says India’s strike in Balakot was unsuccessful

ISLAMABAD: The UK media on Tuesday reported that analysis of satellite imagery showed that Indian Airforce strike in Balakot has caused no damage to surrounding structures, as there was only impacts in the wooded area.

The UK’s The Guardian newspaper reported that analysis of open-source satellite imagery has cast doubt on India’s claims of destroying Jaish-e-Mohammad camp and killing 250 to 300 alleged terrorist.

“A report by the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab was able to geolocate the site of the attack and provide a preliminary damage assessment. It compared satellite images from the days before and after India’s strike and concluded there were only impacts in the wooded areas with no damage visible to surrounding structures,” the report said.

“Open source evidence suggested that the strike was unsuccessful,” the newspaper quoted Michael Sheldon, a research associate with the group, as telling the newspaper.

“Separate satellite analysis by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute also concluded the that there was no evidence of damage to the hilltop facility that India claimed to have struck,” the report said.

On Monday, India’s air force chief said the airstrikes hit their intended targets but would not estimate the death toll. “We don’t count casualties,” Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa said. “We can’t count how many people have died – that depends on how many people were there.”

The second major point of contention is India’s claim that it shot down a Pakistani jet involved in a strike on Indian-controlled territory on Wednesday morning – and that the downed jet was an F-16 fighter.

Images showing the wreckage of a warplane on the Pakistan-controlled side of the border were published by the Indian news agency ANI last week as proof that an F16 had been shot down.

Bellingcat, a forensic investigations outlet, has examined photos and videos of the wreckage and concluded it belonged to the Indian airforce MiG-21 that was shot down in Wednesday’s dogfight, leading to the capture of its pilot, Abhinandan Varthaman.

Indian defence officials have presented a fragment of an AIM-120 AMRAAM missile they say was fired by one of the Pakistani warplanes, a weapon they said could only have been deployed by an F-16.

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