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Operation Sindoor: India strikes air defence systems deep inside Pakistan
Stating that its proportionate response had nullified Pakistan's attempt to escalate following the killing of at least 100 terrorists and their associates in the ongoing Operation Sindoor, India on Thursday said its armed forces targeted air defence radars and systems at multiple locations within Pakistan, neutralising at least one such system in Lahore. This was after thwarting Pakistan's bid to strike several military targets in northern and western India, including Srinagar, Amritsar, and Chandigarh, using drones and missiles.
Indian armed forces employed Israeli-origin 'HAROP' loitering munitions, which combine the characteristics of an unmanned aerial vehicle and a missile, to strike targets in Rawalpindi, a city in the Pakistani province of Punjab, which is home to the headquarters of the Pakistan Army; Lahore, the capital of the same province; and Karachi, the capital city of the Sindh province and home to the country's largest and busiest seaport, said a source in the know. The guided HAROP munition is designed to destroy high-value targets like command posts, supply depots, and air defence systems, and does so by diving at its intended target and detonating itself on it. Another source indicated that India still possessed adequate numbers of the loitering munition.
At least one of these strikes was confirmed to be successful. 'It has been reliably learnt that an air defence system in Lahore has been neutralised,' said the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in an official release. The strike in Lahore hit a Chinese-developed long-range surface-to-air missile system, belonging to the HQ-9 family, said a source aware of the matter. The HQ-9 is a derivative of the well-known Russian S-300 system. As of Thursday evening, the Indian armed forces' operation was described as ongoing, and troops remained on alert.
The MoD said that on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday, Pakistan attempted to engage a number of 'military targets' in northern and western India, including Awantipura, Srinagar, and Jammu in Jammu & Kashmir; Pathankot, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Adampur, and Bathinda in Punjab; the Union Territory of Chandigarh; Nal, Phalodi, and Uttarlai in Rajasthan; and Bhuj in Gujarat.
The attempt was made 'using drones and missiles', which were neutralised by the 'Integrated Counter UAS Grid and Air Defence systems' of the Indian armed forces, added the MoD. As of afternoon, the debris of these attacks was being recovered from a number of locations and served as proof of the Pakistani attacks.
In response, the MoD said the Indian armed forces on Thursday morning targeted air defence radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan. It added that the Indian response was in the 'same domain with same intensity as Pakistan'.
The MoD underscored that during Wednesday's press briefing on India's response to the April 22 Pahalgam terrorist attack, dubbed Operation Sindoor, New Delhi had called its response 'focused, measured and non-escalatory'. It was specifically mentioned that Pakistani military establishments had not been targeted. It was also reiterated that any attack on military targets in India would invite a suitable response. 'Indian armed forces reiterate their commitment to non-escalation, provided it is respected by the Pakistani military,' said the MoD.
Also on Thursday, the government said Operation Sindoor was ongoing, a day after the military action saw Indian armed forces conduct precision military strikes on nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJK) during a 25-minute pre-dawn operation, which Defence Minister Rajnath Singh referred to as the country exercising its 'Right to Respond' to the Pahalgam terrorist attack that killed 26 people, including one national of Nepal. Wednesday's operation included about 24 precision strikes across the nine locations identified as hubs of terrorist activity, with five targets hit in PoJK and four in the Pakistani province of Punjab.
Defence Minister Singh told an all-party meeting on Thursday that at least 100 terrorists and their associates had been killed in Operation Sindoor.
Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff said in a post on X late Thursday evening that military stations of Jammu, Pathankot and Udhampur, in proximity to the International Boundary, in Jammu & Kashmir, had been targeted by Pakistan using missiles and drones. There had been no losses. The post confirmed that the threat had been neutralised by the Indian armed forces using both kinetic and non-kinetic means.
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