Army soldiers examine a building damaged by a suspected Indian missile attack near Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan controlled Kashmir, Wednesday, May 7, 2025 | Photo: PTI
New Delhi: The Indian Army said on Wednesday that it had retaliated for the Pahalgam terror incident by striking nine targets deep within Pakistan.
“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 army in a press release said.
The Indian Army also posted on its official X handle, “Justice is Served. Jai Hind.”
“Altogether, nine (9) sites have been targeted. Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted. India has demonstrated considerable restraint in the selection of targets and the method of execution,” the army said.
It added 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. There will be a detailed briefing on ‘Operation Sindoor’, later today,” the army said.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General, Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, also confirmed the strike in his country.
“The missile strikes were fired by India at Kotli, Bahwalpur and Muzaffarabad in a cowardly attack amid intense tensions between the two countries in the wake of a militant attack in occupied Kashmir,” the Pakistan army confirmed.
The tension between the two nuclear nations comes in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 civilians were killed, mostly tourists.
Flights diverted; schools, airports along border shut
In view of the prevailing situation, two international flights en route to Amritsar were diverted to Delhi on Wednesday, and educational institutions along the Pakistan border shut.
Air India, in a statement, said it has cancelled all its flights to and from Jammu, Srinagar, Leh, Jodhpur, Amritsar, Bhuj, Jamnagar, Chandigarh and Rajkot till noon.
According to SpiceJet, due to the ongoing situation, airports in parts of northern India, including Dharamshala (DHM), Leh (IXL), Jammu (IXJ), Srinagar (SXR), and Amritsar (ATQ), are closed until further notice.
IndiGo, in a post on X, said that due to changing airspace conditions in the region, flights to and from Srinagar, Jammu, Amritsar, Leh, Chandigarh and Dharamshala are impacted.
Air India Express said that in keeping with prevailing restrictions, multiple flights on our network are impacted including cancellation of flights to and from Amritsar, Jammu, Srinagar and Hindon till mid-day.
"Due to the prevailing situation in the region, Srinagar airport has been closed for civil operations. As a result, our flights to and from Srinagar have been cancelled," Akasa Air said in a post on X.
Authorities in Punjab have announced that all schools, colleges and educational institutions in regions along the international border with Pakistan have been closed.
While educational institutes in the Gurdaspur and Pathankot districts will be closed for three days, in Fazilka district, they will be shuttill further orders.
With inputs from IANS