The Indian Armed Forces early Wednesday launched Operation Sindoor, targeting terrorist camps at various locations inside Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK), to avenge the Pahalgam terrorist attack, in which 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists, were killed on April 22.
“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” the Ministry of Defence said in a media release.
According to a statement by the Press Information Bureau (PIB), the operation was carried out a short while ago and aimed at neutralizing terror camps actively involved in planning and executing attacks against India. A total of nine sites have been hit during the strike.
Officials said the strikes were focused, measured, and non-escalatory, deliberately avoiding any Pakistani military installations. “India has shown significant restraint both in the selection of targets and the method of execution,” the statement added.
“India stands by its commitment that those responsible for this heinous act will be held accountable,” a government spokesperson said.
Pakistan’s DG ISPR, Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhary said India targeted sites in Kotli, Muridke, Bahawalpur, and Muzaffarabad.
Muridke is the headquarters of the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is run by Hafiz Saeed, and Bahalwapur in Pakistan’s Punjab province is the base of Jaish-e-Mohammad, an outfit run by Masood Azhar, reported NDTV.
Pakistan claims it shot down Indian jets, vows retaliation
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry told CNN: “I can confirm that two aircraft of Indian Air force have been taken down. The locations I have so far are around Bhatinda in India [Punjab] and Akhnoor [in occupied Kashmir].”
DG ISPR said a child was killed in the Indian attack. He said mosque was targeted in Bahawalpur while two civilians were killed in Kotli, reported Dawn.
Pakistan said it will respond to the strikes by India at a time and place of its own choosing, adding that the attack by India “will not go unanswered”.
In a statement, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that India’s “temporary pleasure will be replaced by enduring grief”.
Donald Trump Reacts
US President Donald Trump reacted to India’s military strikes on terrorist camps inside Pakistan, describing the situation as “a shame” and urging both countries to de-escalate.
“It’s a shame. We just heard about it They’ve been fighting for a long timeThey have been fighting for many many decades.. and centuries actually. I just hope it ends very quickly,” Trump told reporters.
“Nobody wants to see two powerful nations going down that road,” Trump said. “These are countries with long histories and deep tensions, but the world needs peace, not more conflict.”
Pahalgam Attack
Twenty-six people, including 23 Hindu male tourists, were killed by terrorists in Baisaran meadows, a popular destination in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, on April 22.
The terrorists- belonging to The Resistance Front (TRF), which is an offshoot of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)- asked the victims to chant Islamic verses (kalma) and made them pull down their pants to be sure of their their non-Muslim religious identities (read circumcision) before gunning them down before their families, including wives, children and daughters.
The massacre triggered a nationwide outrage and escalated India-Pakistan tensions as New Delhi vowed to avenge the killings.
