After India decimates Pakistan's terror bases in glorious IAF blitz, ALL LATEST AND LIVE updates here

In the wee hours of Tuesday, the Indian armed forces entered Pakistan's territory and demolished the foundation of terrorism in their country by bombing three hubs of terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed, and in turn neutralizing over 240 terrorists.

Having taken a number of diplomatic actions against the neighboring country, the Indian government chose February 26 as the day to avenge Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF jawans attained martyrdom.

Using 16 Mirage 2000 jets, the Indian Air Force shattered the camps of the terror outfit in the space of 17 minutes.

• The strike at Balakot, which is 24 kilometres northwest of Muzaffarabad, took place between 3:45 am and 3:53 am. The locations hit in this strike were joint training camps of the Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.
• The strike at Muzaffarabad took place between 3:48 am and 3:55 am
• The strike at Chakoti took place between 3:58 am and 4:04 am

The move to give a befitting reply to the JeM for Pulwama terror attack was a planned and thoughtful decision. PM Narendra Modi, NSA Ajit Doval worked closely along with the three chiefs of Indian armed forces to calculate the move.

Here are the full details of how the IAF prepared and carried out the pre-dawn strike crushing Pak terror camps to the pulp, as per top sources:

• Raksha Mantri was presented with multiple retaliatory options
• Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa drew up the plan for retaliatory air strikes
• Indian Army and Air Force stepped up the air surveillance along the LoC.
• Drones were also used for the surveillance
• Target spots were selected around Feb 20-21
• Two Mirage squadrons with 16 jets were designated for the mission
• Early warning jet of Embraer platform and mid-air refueller did a trial run
• 16 Mirage 2000s, equipped with laser-guided bombs, take off in batches
• They fly at a low-level across LoC near Muzaffarabad
• The laser pods were used to pinpoint targets

The MEA called this is an 'pre-emptive' strike given there were indications that the JeM would very try and orchestrate another terror attack in India.

"The JeM has been operating in Pakistan for over two decades, which is led by Masood Azhar. This organization is responsible for a series of terror attacks. Credible intelligence was received that Jaish-e-Mohammed was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country & fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose. A pre-emptive strike became important. In an intelligence lead operation in the early hours today, India struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commander & groups of Jihadis were eliminated. This facility in Balakot was headed by Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, brother in law of JeM Chief Masood Azhar," Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said. 

Even as this step by the Indian govt and armed forces broke the backbone of terrorists, the Pakistan government, which provides shelter to terror organisations like JeM, refused to acknowlegde that an attack in such a manner took place.

Following the developments, Pakistan showed its true face by violating ceasefire four times within a couple of hours on the border.

EAM Sushma Swaraj speaks to US Secretary of State department secretary Mike Pompeo after India's strike on Pakistan.

The meeting was attended by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, FM Arun Jaitley, and all the top ministers. All the participants in unison congratulated the IAF. I am happy that all parties in one voice praised the security forces and supported the Govt's anti-terror operations: EAM Sushma Swaraj after all-party meeting

EAM Sushma Swaraj speaks to Foreign ministers of US, China, Singapore, Bangladesh and Afghanistan

As per top sources, PM Modi has met with all three Armed Forces chiefs and congratulated them for the strikes and the collective effort entailed.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj emplanes for China. She will attend Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral meeting and hold bilateral meetings with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov

Pakistan summons India’s acting High Commissioner Gaurav Ahluwalia