On the evening of 3 December, at about 5:40 pm,[91] the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) launched surprise pre-emptive strikes on eleven airfields in north-western India, including Agra, which was 300 miles (480 km) from the border.[92]:82–83 At the time of this attack, the Taj Mahal had been camouflaged with a forest of twigs and leaves and draped with burlap, because its marble glowed like a white beacon in the moonlight.[93]
These preemptive strikes, known as Operation Chengiz Khan, were inspired by the success of Israeli Operation Focus in the Arab–Israeli Six-Day War. Unlike the Israeli attack on Arab airbases in 1967, which involved a large number of Israeli planes, Pakistan flew no more than 50 planes to India.[92]:82[94]
In an address to the nation on radio that same evening, Prime Minister Gandhi held that the air strikes were a declaration of war against India[95][96] and the Indian Air Force (IAF) responded with initial air strikes that very night.[4] These expanded to massive retaliatory air strikes the next morning.[4]
