Indian Air Force fighter-jets targeted Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camps in Balakot.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during armed conflicts. It was officially established on 8 October 1932 as an auxiliary air force of the British India which honoured India's aviation service during World War.

On 26 February 2019, India launched an airstrike on an alleged training camp of the terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot, Pakistan, codenamed Operation Bandar. Open source satellite imagery revealed that no targets of consequence were hit. The following day, Pakistan shot down an Indian warplane and took its pilot, Abhinandan Varthaman, prisoner. Indian anti-aircraft fire accidentally downed an Indian helicopter killing six airmen on board and one civilian on the ground, their deaths receiving little or no coverage in the Indian media, and remaining officially unacknowledged until seven months later. India claimed it had downed a Pakistani F-16 fighter jet, but that claim has been debunked. The airstrike was used by India's ruling party to bolster its patriotic appeal in the general elections of April 2019.

Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) is a Pakistani Deobandi jihadist Islamist militant group active in Kashmir. The group's primary motive is to separate Jammu and Kashmir from India and integrate it into Pakistan.

A terrorist training camp is a facility established to train individuals in the ways of terrorism. By teaching them the methods and tactics of terrorism, those conducting such facilities aim to create an "army" of individuals who will do their bidding. They are often located in, but not confined to, regions where it is intended that acts of terrorism will be carried out, or in traditional areas of extremism, such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Somalia. Wide-open spaces such as parks and wilderness areas are common sites for these camps.