New Delhi:
India successfully intercepted and destroyed several missiles and drones launched by the Pakistani military at 15 cities in northern and western India in the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday, the government said today.
Some debris of the incoming missiles and drones have been found in Punjab’s Amritsar. Visuals show parts of missiles used by Pakistan strewn over a field in the city of the Golden Temple.
The incoming missiles headed towards military targets in Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Pathankot, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Adampur, Bhatinda, Chandigarh, Nal, Phalodi, Uttarlai, and Bhuj, before Indian interceptor missiles took them out, the Press Information Bureau said in a statement.
Many residents in these cities reported hearing sounds of explosions in the sky in the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday, indicating successful interception of the Pakistani launch.
“… These [missiles and drones] were neutralised by the Integrated Counter UAS Grid and Air Defence systems. The debris of these attacks is now being recovered from a number of locations that prove the Pakistani attacks,” the government said in the statement, referring to Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), a technical term for drones and drone-like platforms.
The government said that during the briefing on Operation Sindoor on Wednesday, India had called its response to the Pahalgam terror attack as “focused, measured and non-escalatory”, and it was specifically mentioned that Pakistani military establishments had not been targeted.
“It was also reiterated that any attack on military targets in India will invite a suitable response,” the government said.
Following the Pakistani launches last night, Indian forces targeted air defence radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan, it said.
“Indian response has been in the same domain with the same intensity as Pakistan. It has been reliably learnt that an air defence system at Lahore has been neutralised,” it said.
Pakistan has also increased the intensity of its unprovoked firing across the Line of Control (LoC) using mortars and heavy-calibre artillery. The Pakistani firing is directed towards Kupwara, Baramulla, Uri, Poonch, Mendhar and Rajouri sectors in Jammu and Kashmir.
Sixteen Indian civilians including three women and five children were killed in Pakistani firing. After India returned effective fire, the Pakistani positions went silent, the government said.
The role of the Pakistani army in supporting terrorists to launch attacks against India became even more evident on Wednesday when they stood up in defence of terror infrastructure hit by Indian missile strikes.
Called Operation Sindoor, India carried out 24 precision missile strikes in nine locations – Muzaffarabad, Kotli, Bahawalpur, Rawalakot, Chakswari, Bhimber, Neelum Valley, Jhelum, and Chakwal, which were identified as hubs of terrorist activity.
The operation targeted camps affiliated with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).
