Post-Pahalgam, India strikes back with Operation Sindoor, Pakistan says 26 killed

New Delhi, May 7. In response to the terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22 that claimed the lives of 25 innocent tourists and a pony operator, India launched Operation Sindoor on the intervening night of May 6-7 striking terrorist infrastructure inside Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

Pakistan media reported that 26 people were killed and 46 others were injured in the strikes.

“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 Defence Ministry said in a statement in the wee hours of Wednesday. “Altogether, nine sites have been targeted.”

It stated that India’s actions “have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature”.

“No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted,” the Ministry stated. “India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution.”

It further stated that 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,” it added.

On Wednesday morning, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, flanked by two women officers of the Indian armed forces – Wing Commander Vyomika Singh and Colonel Sofiya Qureshi – apprised the media about the circumstances leading up to Operation Sindoor.

“As you are all aware, on April 22, 2025, Pakistani and Pakistan-trained terrorists belonging to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) carried out a savage attack on Indian tourists at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir in India,” Misri said. “They murdered 26 people, including one national of Nepal, causing the largest number of civilian casualties in a terrorist attack in India since the November 26, 2008, attacks in Mumbai.”

He stated that the attack in Pahalgam “was marked by extreme barbarity, with the victims mostly killed with head-shots from close range and in front of their families”.

“Family members were deliberately traumatized through the manner of the killing, accompanied by the exhortation that they should take back the message,” the Foreign Secretary said.

He made it clear that the attack was clearly driven by the objective of undermining the normalcy returning to Jammu and Kashmir.

“In particular, it was designed to impact the mainstay of the economy, tourism, with a record 23 million tourists visiting the valley last year,” Misri said. “The calculation, presumably, was that harming growth and development in the union territory would help keep it backward and create fertile ground for continued cross-border terrorism from Pakistan.”

He said that the manner of the attack was also driven by an objective of provoking communal discord, both in Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of the Nation.

“It is to the credit of the government and the people of India that these designs were foiled,” he said.

Giving details of the perpetrators of the Pahalgam attack, the Foreign Secretary said that a group calling itself The Resistance Front (TRF) has claimed responsibility for the attack.

“This group is a front for the UN-proscribed Pakistani terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Taiba,” he said. “It is notable that India had given inputs about the TRF in the half-yearly report to the Monitoring Team of the UN’s 1267 Sanctions Committee in May and November 2024, bringing out its role as a cover for Pakistan-based terrorist groups. Earlier too, in December 2023, India had informed the monitoring team about LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammad operating through small terror groups such as the TRF. Pakistan’s pressure to remove references to TRF in the April 25 UN Security Council Press Statement is notable in this regard.”

Misri explained that the investigations into the Pahalgam terror attack have brought out the communication nodes of terrorists in and to Pakistan.

“The claims made by The Resistance Front and their reposting by known social media handles of the Lashkar-e-Taiba speak for themselves,” he said. “Identification of the attackers, based on eyewitness accounts, as well as other information available to law enforcement agencies, has also progressed. Our intelligence has developed an accurate picture of the planners and backers of this team.”

According to Misri, the features of this attack also tie in with Pakistan’s long track record of perpetrating cross-border terror in India, “which is well documented, and beyond question”.

“Pakistan also has a well-deserved reputation as a haven for terrorists from around the world, with internationally proscribed terrorists enjoying impunity there,” he said. “In addition, Pakistan has been known to wilfully mislead the world and international forums, such as the Financial Action Task Force, on this issue. The Sajid Mir case, in which this terrorist was declared dead and then, in response to international pressure, brought back to life, found alive and arrested, is the most glaring example.”

Stating that the Pahalgam attack has generated deep anger in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country, he referred to a set of initial diplomatic measures India took against Pakistan on April 23.

“However, it was deemed essential that the perpetrators and planners of the April 22 attack be brought to justice,” Misri said. “Despite a fortnight having passed since the attacks, there has been no demonstrable step from Pakistan to take action against the terrorist infrastructure on its territory or on territory under its control. Instead, all it has indulged in are denials and allegations. Our intelligence monitoring of Pakistan-based terrorist modules indicated that further attacks against India were impending. There was thus a compulsion both to deter and to pre-empt.”

He then stated earlier on Wednesday morning India exercised its right to respond and pre-empt as well as deter more such cross-border attacks.

“These actions were measured, non-escalatory, proportionate, and responsible,” the Foreign Secretary said. “They focused on dismantling the terrorist infrastructure and disabling terrorists likely to be sent across to India.”

Following this, Wing Commander Vyomika Singh and Colonel Sofiya Qureshi took the media through the details of Operation Sindoor.

“Terror targets were chosen based on credible intelligence and their involvement in cross-border terrorism,” Colonel Qureshi said. “No military installation was targeted in Pakistan during Operation Sindoor.”

Wing Commander Vyomika Singh asserted that “India is ready to deal with any

misadventure by Pakistan”.

The women officers provided a detailed account of the precision strikes, outlining the exact locations of the intended targets.

“Operation Sindoor did not involve any attacks on Pakistani military installations,” Colonel Qureshi stated. “Each target was selected based on solid intelligence linking them to cross-border terrorism.”

She also presented video evidence confirming successful strikes on terror camps located in Muridke, as well as other areas within Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Captured through onboard targeting systems and surveillance drones, the footage revealed direct hits on critical terrorist infrastructure, including facilities associated with Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad.

As Wing Commander Vyomika Singh and Colonel Qureshi took the stage to present visuals and narrate India’s resolute counter-terrorism operation, a powerful video montage played in the background. It depicted some of the most devastating terror attacks on Indian soil over the past decade: the 2001 Parliament attack, the 2002 Akshardham Temple assault in Gujarat, the 2008 Mumbai attacks, and the tragic incidents in Uri, Pulwama, and Pahalgam.

A solemn message followed: “Over the last decade, more than 350 Indian civilians have lost their lives to cross-border terrorism, and 800 others have been injured. More than 600 security personnel have made the ultimate sacrifice, and over 1,400 have been wounded while defending the nation against this persistent threat.”

The message concluded with a resolute declaration: “No More.”

Meanwhile Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director-General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, while addressing a media briefing on Wednesday morning, said that 26 people were killed and 46 others were injured in the Indian strikes in Punjab province and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The Nation news website cited Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif as claiming that among the targets of the Indian strikes were two mosques killing 16 people. He claimed that while a strike on a mosque in Ahmedpur East killed 13 people, another on a mosque in Muridke claimed three lives.