New Delhi: Indian armed forces carried out missile attacks on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in the early hours of Wednesday in response to the Pahalgam terror attack, as part of Operation Sindoor.
Sources in the defence and security establishment told ThePrint that the attacks were precision strikes carried out using “niche weapon systems”.
Strike locations include Punjab’s Bahawalpur, the stronghold of terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad.
Pakistani media reports quoted the Director General, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), as saying that retaliatory strikes on ground and by air are underway. The DG ISPR also claimed that there have been civilian casualties in the attack by India, and targets included at least one mosque in Bahawalpur. He further said that the attacks have taken place from the Indian air space in Bahawalpur’s Ahmed East area, Kotli, Muzaffarabad and Muridke (a stronghold of Lashkar-e-Taiba), Bagh.
The Ministry of Defence issued a statement announcing that the Indian armed forces had launched strikes at terrorist infrastructure.
“A little while ago, the Indian Armed Forces launched ‘OPERATION SINDOOR’, hitting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed Altogether, nine (9) sites have been targeted,” the Defence Ministry said in the statement.
“Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted. India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution,” it added.
Reports coming in from Pakistan said Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) has issued a statement saying that India has struck three places from air: Bahawalpur, Kotli, and Muzaffarabad.
“All planes of Pakistan Air Force are airborne. All strikes were made by India from its own airspace. Pakistan will respond to it at a time and place of its own choosing. It will not go unanswered,” it said. “The temporary pleasure of India will be replaced by enduring grief.”
The Indian armed forces’ action comes in the wake of the Pahalgam terrorist attack in which 25 Indians and one Nepali citizen were killed on 22 April.
“We are living up to the commitment that those responsible for this attack will be held accountable,” the defence ministry statement added.
Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Kiren Rijiju, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma were among those who hailed the operation. Rajnath Singh, the Defence Minister, posted ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’.
Shortly after the strikes on terror bases, the Indian Army posted: ‘Justice is served. Jai Hind!’ It was later followed by a short video clip with the message ‘Ready to Strike, Trained to Win’.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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