India Strikes 9 Targets Responding to Pak Terrorism

“Our intelligence indicated that further attacks against India are impending. Thus, compulsion, both to deter and prevent and hence earlier this morning, India exercised its right to respond to deter such more cross-border terrorism,” -Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri

<Editors>

The sun was shining in the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmi as news reached residents that India had conducted targeted air strikes within Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POKJ) and mainland Pakistan at the heart of the terrorist network that has been installed by Pakistan to conduct cross-border terror operations including the devastating Pahalgam attack, which killed 26 innocent people and traumatized their families and the residents of the scenic valley in Kashmir.

On the other side of the line of control, smoke and flames still burning in the rubble of the terrorist camps could be seen in the morning light. The air strikes were conducted just past midnight in the early hours of May 7th. An estimated 80 terrorists were killed as nine terror training camps and operations hubs were destroyed.

Among those killed in the strike were apparently ten family members and four close aides of one of the top wanted terrorists in India, Mashood Azhar, the leader of the United Nations banned terror outfit, Jaishe-e-Muhammad (Army of the Prophet) according to a statement made by Azhar. However, Azhar, himself evaded the strike.

In a briefing begun by foreign secretary Vikram Misri, and co-led by two of India’s most distinguished members of its armed forces, Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, demonstrating the diversity of the Indian Armed Forces in both gender and religion, the Indian government made clear that the strike was “measured and non-escalatory, proportionate and responsible. They focused on dismantling terrorists’ infrastructure,” according to Secretary Misri.

Since the Pahalgam terror attack, India and Pakistan have been at odds: India has claimed that the group, which claimed responsibility, a little known terror outfit called “The Resistance Front” was an offshoot of the banned and designated terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, a spawn of Pakistan’s spy agency the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency while Pakistan has said India has provided no evidence of such claims. Pakistan went further, its foreign minister at the United Nations calling the organization the “Resistance Forum” and advocating (successfully) for the removal of its name from the UN statement condemning the terror attack.

India’s Foreign Secretary, Vikram Misri briefs media in wake Indian airstrikes against Pakistan terrorist infrastructure

Near the outset of the briefing, Secretary Misri divulged some of the intelligence, which links TRF to Pakistan. “Investigations into the Pahalgam terror attack have brought out notes of terrorists in and to Pakistan. The claims made by The Resistance Front and their reposting [on ‘X’ formerly Twitter] by known social media handles of the Lashkar-e-Taiba speak for themselves,” Misri said. He also said that India had given input on TRF to the monitoring committee on the UN’s 1267 bringing out its role as a cover for Pakistan-based terrorist groups, and that in 2023, India had informed the monitoring committee about the LeT and its sister organization, the Jaish-e-Muhammed (Army of the Prophet) operating through smaller terrorist outfits like TRF. Hence, Pakistan’s efforts to remove TRF from the UN April 25th press statement on the Pahalgam attack reveals that they knew well the connections to banned terror groups that its spy agency helped create and nurtured over the years.

Misri also mentioned that the attack and subsequent actions by Pakistan corresponds quite neatly with Pakistan’s prior actions in instigating respect of cross-border terrorism, and then denying it as well as giving safe haven to terrorists on its soil. He brought up the case of the chief planner of the 26/11 attacks, Sajid Mir: “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,” he stated.

Misri also said that India had given Pakistan time to act against the terrorists and their infrastructure umder their control in response to the Pahalgam attack but that in a fortnight, it had done nothing except deny any connection to Pakistan and make spurious counter-allegations. Hence, India was driven to act but as Colonel Qureshi then added, this was not in vengeance but out of necessity.

Colonel Qureshi emphasized that the strikes were not only retaliatory but also pre-emptive: “For the last three decades, Pakistan has been constructing terror infrastructure, including recruitment centres, training areas, and launch pads across PoJK and Pakistan. This operation was intended to dismantle those facilities and prevent future attacks,” she said.

Indeed, Misri revealed that Pahalgam was not the endgame of the Pakistan-backed terrorists: “Our intelligence indicated that further attacks against India are impending. Thus, compulsion, both to deter and prevent and hence earlier this morning, India exercised its right to respond to deter such more cross-border terrorism,” he said.

Singh added: “The strikes on the terror camps were undertaken through precision capability…niche technology weapons. A careful selection of warheads was ensured so that there would be no collateral damage. The point of impact of each of the targets was a specific building or a group of buildings. The targets were neutralized with clinical efficiency and reiterates the professionalism of the Indian Armed Forces in the planning and execution of their operations.”

Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, a decorated female Muslim member of the Indian Armed Forces co-leads the briefing to the press, describing the dangerous nature of the terror targets, which were “neutralized”

Singh also emphasized that no Pakistani military establishments were targeted thereby indicating that India had “demonstrated considerable restraint” in its response. A key element of the briefing was intended to reassure the public and the global community, including, India’s neighbours, that the action was about justice and prevention of similar incidents – and not meant to escalate the tense geopolitical situation between India and Pakistan.

Ominously, Singh ended her contribution to the briefing by saying that the Indian Armed Forces was prepared to respond to any “misadventures” by the Pakistan military, which would only serve to escalate the situation – something that it was made clear is undesirable for all parties.

The briefing represented the first time in Indian history, two women officers from the Indian Army and Indian Air Force co-briefed the press at an official press briefing on a major military operation. Qureshi, a Muslim by religion, embodies that the retaliatory strike was not an attack on Muslims by Hindus, and demonstrates that this is not a battle between religions but one of a nation responding to the wanton murder of innocent civilians carried out in front of their families to exact maximum terror and trauma.

Col. Qureshi made history earlier as the first woman to lead an Indian Army training contingent, then only thirty-five years old. Wing Commander Singh, a commissioned helicopter pilot, has played key roles in numerous rescue missions including a critical rescue operation in Arunachal Pradesh in November, 2020, where she flew in high-altitude, tough weather conditions to evacuate civilians.

The strikes, which took just 24 minutes were highly coordinated and precisely planned. Execution was efficient and utilized state-of-the-art arms technology including: SCALP (Storm Shadow) missiles, with a range of over 250 km (to strike hardened targets, including reinforced bunkers and command posts);

HAMMER (Highly Agile Modular Munition Extended Range) bombs, which were engaged against multi-storey buildings believed to house training modules and operational leadership; and loitering munitions, also known as kamikaze drones, which played a dual role in providing real-time surveillance and striking high-value mobile targets as they emerged.

“Within less than an hour, all missiles had struck their designated targets. The strikes were synchronised to avoid detection and maximise the element of surprise. Real-time footage from UAVs confirmed the destruction of target facilities. The decision to target deep into Pakistani-administered territory was a departure from prior doctrine and marked a new level of strategic assertiveness,” a government source is reported to have told NDTV, a well-established 24-hour Indian news channel.

Decorated Wing Commander, Vyomika Singh also co-leading the messaging on behalf of the Indian Armed Forces and the government, describing the targets hit and the rationale for doing so

TARGETED SITES:

The Indian government and press revealed that it targeted nine sites and included the reasoning behind the selection:

1. Markaz Subhan Allah, Bahawalpur (located adjacent the Karachi-Torkham Highway in Pakistan)

• This fifteen-acre area is alleged to be the main training ground and indoctrination locus for the Jaish-e-Muhammad, an organization designated as a terrorist group by India, Canada, Australia, the USA, UK, Russia, United Arab Emirates, United Nations, and the multi-national community known as BRICS. It was also designated as a terrorist group by Pakistan, though, apparently, it has been allowed to operate with impunity within a stone’s throw of Pakistan’s most populated urban centre, Karachi. The terrorist centre served as the operations headquarters for the Pulama attack, which took place on February 14, 2019. It contained the residences of leader, Mashood Azhar, his family members, and close associates.

2. Markaz Taiba, Muridke

• This complex comprising an area of more than 200 acres is located in Murkdke, a major Pakistani city, situated around 40 km from Lahore and close to the Punjab international border with India.
• According to Colonel Qureshi, the camp trained Ajmal Kasab, one of the terrorists behind the Mumbai attacks that left 166 people dead in 2008, and David Headley, the mastermind of the attacks
• It contained sports facilities, fish farm, and farming areas – financed in part, financed by Osama bin Laden in 2000. The Indian government claims that it is the most important training facility of the Laskhar-e-Taiba – a designated terrorist organization banned in Pakistan as well as a host of countries including India, USA, UK, Australia, Canada, Russia, News Zealand, and Israel as well as the United Nations.
• Containing an extremist-run mosque established by bin Laden, it is a key indoctrination center for radical Islam, and known as the LeT’s “terror nursery.
• While there are no roads directly to the Indian border, a motorcycle can reach India from the base hour and twenty minutes.

3. Mehmoona Joya, Sialkot

• A Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) facility used as a launching ground for infiltration from Pakistani Punjab state into the Jammu part of Jammu and Kashmir.
• The Pakistani intelligence services, the ISI, has facilitated setting up the facility making it look like a government building to hide its nefarious purpose.
• HM was designated as a terrorist organization by India, USA, Canada, and the EU
• Interestingly, it has not been designated as a terrorist group by Pakistan because of its deep ties to the ISI and Pakistan military dating back to the days of Zia ul Haq in the 1980s when he ordered the establishment of its predecessor organization. In recent years, the ISI has been inducting foreign terrorists into the HM, and it has become very unpopular in Kashsmir due to its antagonism towards Sufi Islam and other non-Sunni branches of the Islam. It was behind the assassinations of several pro-independence Kashmiri leaders because of the mandate given to it by the ISI to seek integration of Kashmir with Pakistan
• Mohammad Irfan Khan aka Irfan Tanda, the commander of this facility is responsible for the blasts at Maulana Azad Stadium in Jammu, which killed eight civilians.

4. Markaz Ahle Hadith, Barnala

• Another LeT facility but located in Barnala, POJK less than 60 km from Jammu
• The multi-storey budling was used as a staging ground for infiltration operations into the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.
• Based here, terrorists planned and executed two attacks in 2023 and 2024 resulting in the deaths of 16 innocent civilians who were on pilgrimages to Hindu holy sites in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir
• Has the capacity to house around 150 terrorists.

5. Markaz Abbas, Kotli

• Located less than a kilometre from Kotli Military Camp in POJK
• Was used by the JeM to train suicide bombers (Fidayeen terrorists)
• HQ of Hafiz Abdul Shakhoor a.k.a Qari Zarrar, one of the founding members of JeM and Harakat ul Mukahideen (HUM) leaving it to form the JeM with Mahmood Azhar, also the leader of the LeT, demonstrating the linkages of these organizations, which all received backing of the Pakistan ISI
• Zarrar is wanted by the Indian government in connection with an attack on the Indian army in Jammu

6. Shawai Nalla Camp, Muzaffarabad

• Located in Muzaffarabad, this is an important intake training centre and base camp for the LeT in POJK.
• Activities included indoctrination, physical training, tactical training, use of GPS, map reading, training in rifles and guns, and target practice at a shooting range.
• At times, specialized training is conducted by the Pakistani Army, which is facilitated surreptitiously by the ISI

7. Maskar Raheel Shahid

• Located in a secluded enclave near Mahuli Puli in Kotli district in POJK, this camp is only accessible by a crude track used normally for adventure tourism or trekking.
• At any one time, around fifty terrorists are present but could house around 200 terrorists if necessary.
• Notably it has a special designated electricity line connected (perhaps military grade) providing power connectivity as this hilly forest-covered area is not connected to the power grid.
• It serves as a repository of arms and munitions for the terror outfit, HuK.
• This is a specialty arms school where snipers are trained, and their skills honed to the level of the Pakistan army rangers.

8. Sarjal Camp

• Located in Sialkot in Pakistani Punjab province around 6 km from the international border with Punjab in India
• The terrorists who killed four police officers in Jammu and Kashmir were trained in this camp.
• The camp was the staging ground for the operation, and it was planned here.

9. Syedna Bilal Camp

• Located in Musafarrabad, POJK, the camp was used as a staging area for the JuM for carrying out terror operations.
• Instructors at the camp provided advance weapons, explosives and jungle survival techniques here.

It is quite evident from the numbers and purposes of the sites targeted that agencies of the Pakistan military were carrying out full-fledged arms training for low-intensity guerilla proxy war against India. “Death by a thousand cuts,” it was popularly called.

REPORTS OF CRASHES

Debris from at least two Indian aircraft, which had apparently crashed was found in Kashmir and Punjab in Indian territory. One helicopter also may have crashed. Social media handles known to be fronts for the ISI have said these were Indian jets that were shot down. CNN has reported a Pakistani claim that their military shot down five Indian planes. This is not surprising given CNN’s track record of reporting Pakistani claims in the past and their false reporting in major conflicts such as the two Gulf Wars. The outlet failed to offer any expert analysis the most rudimentary of which would observe that, as the wreckage was found on Indian territory, it is highly unlikely that Pakistani anti-aircraft guns had shot them down. The cause of the apparent crashes remain unknown.

The BBC has reported that Pakistan responded with rampant shelling along the Line of Control, killing three civilians but The Hindu has reported that at least ten innocents have been killed in the firing. Pakistan claims that the Indian strikes killed 26 civilians.

PAKISTAN RESPONSE AS OF 7:30 PM IST, MAY 7TH

The British daily, The Guardian reported that Pakistan denied that any of the sites hit by Indian missiles had been associated with terrorist infrastructure, calling the allegations “unsubstantiated and unreasonable”. They said six civilian areas had been targeted.

Pakistan denied its airspace was violated by Indian aircraft. “At no time any of their aircraft were allowed to enter into Pakistan’s airspace and also at no time, none of Pakistan’s aircraft went into Indian airspace,” said Gen Ahmed Chaudhry, the director general of Pakistan’s inter-services public relations, the media wing of the military.

After initially calling India’s action an “Act of War” with Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, vowing to retaliate, stating the military would: “avenge the loss of innocent Pakistani lives and blatant violation of its sovereignty” Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif seemed to soften this stance, saying that Pakistan would “wrap up” hostilities if India backed off, leaving open the door for dialogue.

The Prime Minister’s statement seemed to contradict the ISI claim that no violation of airspace occurred as how could Pakistan sovereignty be violated in an airstrike without Pakistani airspace being breached?

While the recent statements of the Pakistan Defence Minister seem conciliatory, it is well known that Pakistan has many loci of power, the most prominent of which is their military, which essentially dictates to the civilian government. Pakistan’s Foreign Office condemned the strikes as an “unprovoked and blatant act of war,” while its army said it would respond to the provocation “at a time and place of its own choosing,” ironically echoing the words of former US President George W. Bush in response to the 9/11 terror attacks.

GLOBAL REACTION

The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, has not addressed the nation on the attacks. Rather a video made at an international conference on space exploration taped as the operational planning for the airstrikes were being finalized was aired, today.

Poker-faced Prime Minister Modi gives nothing away at a taped address on space exploration as plans for the most ambitious non-wartime strike on Pakistan and POKJ terrorist infrastructure was being finalized

Previously, the government announced that wartime drills would be conducted at various locations including schools, hospitals, and in large urban centres in case widespread evacuation was required. TV news stations showed video of students at a girls’ school ducking under their desks and tables when sirens were blared. Air raid horns, not in use for decades, coughed and squeaked as adjustments were made to get a consistent sound. The capital, New Delhi went dark to obscure targeting in preparation for potential retaliation from the air by Pakistan.

The news service, Reuters reported the following reaction statements from World leaders:

U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP
“It’s a shame. Just heard about it. I guess people knew something was going to happen based on a little bit of the past. They’ve been fighting for a long time. They’ve been fighting for many, many decades. I hope it ends very quickly.”

U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE MARCO RUBIO
“I am monitoring the situation between India and Pakistan closely. I echo @POTUS’s comments earlier today that this hopefully ends quickly and will continue to engage both Indian and Pakistani leadership towards a peaceful resolution.”

SPOKESPERSON FOR U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTONIO GUTERRES
“The Secretary-General is very concerned about the Indian military operations across the Line of Control and international border. He calls for maximum military restraint from both countries. The world cannot afford a military confrontation between India and Pakistan.”

JAPAN CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY YOSHIMASA HAYASHI
“In regard to the terrorist act that occurred in Kashmir on April 22, our country firmly condemns such acts of terrorism. Furthermore, we express strong concern that this situation may lead to further retaliatory exchanges and escalate into a full-scale military conflict. For the peace and stability of South Asia, we strongly urge both India and Pakistan to exercise restraint and stabilize the situation through dialogue.”

CHINA FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON
“China finds India’s military operation early this morning regrettable. We are concerned about the ongoing situation. We urge both sides to act in the larger interest of peace and stability, remain calm, exercise restraint and refrain from taking actions that may further complicate the situation.”

BRITISH FOREIGN MINISTER DAVID LAMMY
“Current tensions between India and Pakistan are a serious concern. The UK government is urging India and Pakistan to show restraint and engage in direct dialogue to find a swift, diplomatic path forward. We need all sides to work urgently to see regional stability restored and ensure protection of civilians.”

RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON
“We are deeply concerned about the escalation of military confrontation between India and Pakistan following the terrorist attack near Pahalgam. We call on the parties involved to exercise restraint in order to prevent further deterioration of the situation in the region.”

Israel’s Ambassador to India, Reuven Azar, said in a statement that Israel supports India’s right to self-defence. Posting on X, Azar said, “Israel supports India’s right for self defense. Terrorists should know there’s no place to hide from their heinous crimes against the innocent. #OperationSindoor”

Since 1947, which created the Dominions of India and Pakistan out of British India, the two nations, now republics have fought three declared wars in 1947, 1965, and 1971 as well as a high intensity conflict in response to a territorial incursion in Kargil, Kashmir, India, by Pakistan and terrorists it controlled in 1999. All but one of the conflicts were a result of Pakistani aggression and incursion into the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. The 1971 war was a result of then West Pakistan conducting a genocide on East Pakistan, sending around 10 million East Pakistani refugees (many from the Hindu minority community who had been targeted by the West Pakistani military) into India. While India readied to act in some manner to stop a genocide that is estimated in upwards of three million people, West Pakistan launched a “pre-emptive strike” not on India’s Eastern flank where East Pakistan shared a porder with West Bengal, India but, once again, in the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir.

When the British were preparing to leave, the political groups negotiating the departure all decided that the princely states, which enjoyed autonomy under their local rulers would be given the right to accede to either India or Pakistan. The Hindu ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, Maharaja Hari Singh ruled a state that was approximately 60% Muslim. When he delayed his decision to accede to one of the two dominions, Pakistan launched the first of its incursions into Kashmir by arming and directing a horde of marauding Pathans (Pashtuns) into Kashmir. The Maharaja fled the capital to Jammu, and the Pathans might have actually reached the capital before the Maharaja acceded to India, signing the writ of accession in haste, had the plundering invaders not stopped to loot the towns and rape the women (including nuns at a nunnery).

With Indian forces now legally entitled to defend its own territory, the invaders were pushed back. With complete victory in sight, India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who fancied himself more a global statesman than the leader of a divers, complex, and impoverished nation, stopped the war and referred the matter to the United Nations, leaving some territory under occupation of the invaders, which Pakistan then subsumed.

Nehru, a lawyer by training, surmised that India’s case would be a fait accompli. Maharaja Hari Singh had signed the legally binding writ of accession, making his state part of India, Nehru felt the UN would order Pakistan to withdraw and, in that way, further bloodshed would be avoided. Instead, as has become typical of the UN, no clear resolution was enacted. With so many nations of varying interests voting on the matter, the UN resolved that both India and Pakistan should withdraw their armed forces from the territory, and a referendum ought to be held on accession to either nation. Till date, neither country has voluntarily removed its armed forces, so the conditions for the referendum were never met.

In 1972, India and Pakistan reached an accommodation with a peace treaty called the Simla Treaty when Pakistan President, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (one of the supporters of the East Pakistan genocide) and Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, fresh from her military victory against Pakistan, met to discuss a way forward. The treaty’s official purpose was stated to serve as a way for both countries to “put an end to the conflict and confrontation that have hitherto marred their relations” and to conceive the steps to be taken for further normalization of India–Pakistan relations while also laying down the principles that should govern their future interactions.

The treaty gave back more than 13,000 km2 of land that the Indian Army had seized in Pakistan during the war and Pakistan also give back land that was captured during the war, though India retained a few strategic areas, including Turtuk, Dhothang, Tyakshi (earlier called Tiaqsi) and Chalunkaof Chorbat Valley, which was more than 883 km2. Meanwhile, Pakistan retained Chumb City.

However, Pakistan unilaterally suspended the agreement after India’s abrogated of the Indus Waters Treaty, in response to Pakistan’s culpability in 2025 Pahalgam massacre and failure take responsibility and act the against cross-border terrorism infrastructure that its spy agency had built and nurtured for decades.

The two countries remain in a tense stand-off as the Prime Minister of Pakistan has seemingly contradicted his defence minister, causing him to do an about-face, now, vowing retaliation against India, as he addressed Parliament, saying, “We will take this war to the end.” This comes as a strange statement given that the two countries are not at war. Still to what end, Sharif means, remains to be seen.