A fortnight after the ghastly terror attack in Pahalgam, Indian armed forces carried out a huge operation codenamed ‘Sindoor’, hitting and destroying nine terrorist training camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
The operation, carried out between 1.05 AM and 1.30 AM today, was aimed at disabling the capacity of the Pakistan-based terrorist groups to send terrorists again into India to cause further bloodshed, officials said here.
The targets hit included terror training camps run by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) in places like Muridke near Lahore, Bahawalpur, Sialkot in Pakistan and Kotli and Muzaffarabad in POJK.
The officials underscored that no civilian or military installations or infrastructure were targeted or hit during the operation and that there was no report of any civilian casualty in the attack “till now”.
“As you are all aware, on April 22, 2025, Pakistani and Pakistan-trained terrorists belonging to the Lashkar-e-Taiba carried out a savage attack on Indian tourists in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir in India. They murdered 26 people, including one national of Nepal,” said Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri while briefing the media here.
Misri, who was accompanied by Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and IAF Wing Commander Voymika Singh at the briefing, said this was the “largest civilian casualty” in a terror attack after the Mumbai attacks of 2008.
“The attack in Pahalgam was marked by extreme barbarity, with victims killed with mostly head shots from close range and in front of their families. The family members were deliberately traumatised through the manner of the killing, accompanied by the exhortation that they should take back the message,” he said.
“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.
He said, “Despite a fortnight having passed, there has been no demonstrable step from Pakistan against terrorists’ infrastructure in its area” and “it was deemed essential that the perpetrators and planners of the Pahalgam attack be brought to justice.”
“The Operation Sindoor was executed to deliver justice to the victims of Pahalgam,” said Colonel Sofiya Qureshi.
Both Colonel Qureshi and Wing Commander Voymika Singh said the targets were selected carefully to avoid damage to civilian infrastructure and precision-based weapons were used.
The operation was carried out clinically, they said.
“India demonstrated considerable restraint, but Indian armed forces are fully prepared for any Pakistani misadventure,” said Col Qureshi while winding up the briefing, where no questions were allowed. UNI RBE
