India Hits 9 Terror Sites in Pakistan

Two weeks after the nation was shocked and angered by the killing of 26 tourists segregated on basis of religion in a terror attack at Pahalgam, India struck back emphatically carrying out precision strikes at nine targets across the Line of Control and also deep in Pakistani territory.

“Justice has been served,” said the Indian Army in a Tweet. The use of fighters like Rafales and missiles like Brahmos missiles was being seen as likely means by which the hits were delivered.

The targets hit are understood to have included terror hubs of Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad such as Muzzaffarabad, Muridke and Bahawalpur. The Indian defence ministry confirmed the hits that were followed by an increase in firing and use of heavy weapons along the LoC and border areas.

The Indian statement emphasised the attacks did not hit miliary targets and was “non-escalatory” meaning that it will be up to Pakistan whether it wants to widen the conflict. It was, however, clear that India will be prepared to respond to any kind of provocation.

Nine carefully selected sites were hit in pre-dawn strikes, under the code name “operation sindoor”, according to a late night statement issued by the defence ministry. The targeted locations are those where terrorists attacks against India have been planned and directed, it said.

“Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistani military installations were targeted,” the statement said. It also said that India has demonstrated “considerable restraint” in both the selection of targets and the manner of execution.

The action of the Indian armed forces is considerably of higher order than the Balakot strikes that had hit a LeT camp in PoK. The attacks, said a Pakistani statement, were launched from within Indian territory. The strikes are unambiguous and cannot be denied. Pakistan had claimed the Balakot strikes hit only a few trees.

The action reinforces India’s resolve to punish perpetrators of the terrorist attack. “These steps come in the wake of the barbaric Pahalgam terrorist attack in which 25 Indians and one Nepali citizen were murdered. We are living up to the commitment that those responsible for this attack will be held accountable,” the Indian statement said.

Soon after the Pahalgam terror attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said in Madhubani in Bihar that India will identify, track down and punish every terrorist, their handlers and backers and hand out punishment they could not have imagined.

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