This strike was still assessed as indecisive, however, by Theatre where it was concluded that bombing was the only effective means of doing serious and more permanent damage to the enemy radar site, despite the element of risk to adjacent civilian property in the Amritsar cantonment. For optimum accuracy, it was thought desirable for one of the specially equipped RB-57s to lead the bomber formation while homing on to the enemy radar. On the evening of I I September, Squadron Leader M lqbal-the PAF's leading Elint specialist-flew a practice homing mission in one of the RB-57s of 24 Squadron, using the old mobile radar of No 230 Squadron at Rahwali as a target. During this low level approach, he was mistaken for an enemy Canberra and was promptly shot down by alert Pak Army personnel manning quadruple 0.5in machine guns at Rahwali. The deaths of Squadron Leader lqbal and his navigator, Flight Lieutenant Saifullah Lodhi, and the loss of one of the 3 specially equipped RB-57s operated by the PAF was one of the pointless tragedies of war which might have been avoided if the army gunners had been informed of the planned practice run.