Pak air raid attempts on WB foiled
By A Staff Reporter, India frustrated several Pakistani air strike attempts on West Bengal on Saturday.
The Pakistani jets taking off from Jessore made repeated attempts to enter West Bengal but failed to strike at any of their chosen targets.
Their advance was stalled inside Bangladesh territory by the Indian Ack Ack fire and IAF interceptors scanning the sky.
The IAF undertook 84 air patrol sorties over Calcutta, Gauhati, Siliguri, Shillong and Silchar on the day.
Our staff correspondent Dhruva Majumdar reports from Shillong: The IAF swung into massive action on Saturday and penetrated deep into Bangladesh at several points to support and sustain the Indian ground force fighting the Pak Army.
The Indian Migs, Hunters and SU 22s in 170 sarties pounded selective targets in 11 military airfields in Bangladesh simultaneously and incessantly and shot down 14 Pakistani planes. The Pakistani lost Seven Sabers in the aerial dogfights over Kurmitola and Tejgaon airfields in the Dacca complex. Another three Sabres were destroyed on the ground. Three spotters and one medium transport plane were also knocked off by the IAF in air raids.
Indian losses were one SU 22 bomber and three Hunters. One of the pilots was killed in action and three others bailed out. Two of the pilots are in Pak custody while the third was reported safe in a liberated area under Mukti Bahini control.
Air Marshal H. C. Dewan told newsmen here today that today’s attacks started in the fog at 7 a.m. and by its conclusion at 1p.m. “the Pakistani Air Force became almost non-existent with only three Sabres left. We could go any place after that.”
Earlier in a midnight action beginning two light Indian planes made rocket attacks on Chittagong and Narayanganj oil storage dumps setting them ablaze. The flames shot up to a height of at least 1,000 ft.
Besides these, the IAF has also blasted two ships in the Chittagong port area Cox’s Bazar was also bombed.
Indian planes strafed three trains carrying Pakistani troops near Saidpur in Rangpur district- an important rail center. The also rocketted 20 Army steamers on the Jamuna, completely destroying six of them and rendering the rest unserviceable. One passenger train near Dacca was also hit.
The airfields which came under today’s pounding were Kurmitola and Tejgaon in the Dacca complex, Lalmonirhat, Shibganj and the recently built Saidpur airbase in Rangpur and Shirdi Jessore, Chittagong, Shamshernagar, Sylhet (Salutikar) and Mymensingh airports.
The Air Force also flew 46 missions in direct support of the ground forces and did extensive damage to enemy military installations in Jessore, mili, Akhaura, Brahmanbaria and Kamalpur.
In indirect support IAF hunters and MIGS rocketed the important ferry points at Gaibandha north of Bogra, and Sirajganj west of Mymensingh all one the Jumna.
The planes cut the supply route by strafing the railway track on the main supply route between Golaghat and Daudjhandi, 64 km west of Comilla and 48 km southeast of Dacca. The Chandpur ferry 72 km south west of Comilla was also attacked.
Reference: Hindustan Standard, 05.12.1971