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India and Pakistan exchanged heavy artillery and mortar fire on Wednesday, leaving at least 12 people, including four children, dead and injuring dozens more as the Pakistan Army targeted forward villages along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir following Indian military strikes early Wednesday on terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), officials said.
In a dramatic display of force, India carried out coordinated air and missile attacks on nine terror-linked sites deep inside Pakistan and PoK in what Delhi dubbed Operation Sindoor.
The retaliatory assault was conducted using high-precision, long-range weaponry and was coordinated by the army, navy and air Force, all from Indian territory, PTI said. The attack came two weeks after terrorists massacred 26 civilians in Pahalgam.
“Justice has been served,” Colonel Sofiya Qureshi declared in a televised briefing. “Nine terrorist camps were successfully destroyed.”
Colonel Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, two senior women officers in the Indian armed forces, unveiled details of the operation with maps and drone footage.
Among the targets hit were major training and operational hubs linked to groups like Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), they said.
Strikes were conducted with precision, avoiding civilian infrastructure and steering clear of Pakistani military installations, according to India’s foreign secretary and top military officials.
The operation, described by Indian officials as a “measured” response, struck terror sites in Bahawalpur, Muridke, Sialkot, Barnala, Kotli, and Muzaffarabad. One of the destroyed camps was the same facility where Ajmal Kasab and David Headley, two key figures in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, were trained, officials said.
“These strikes were not symbolic,” foreign secretary Vikram Misri said. “They were surgical actions to neutralise credible threats,” he said, emphasising that the Pahalgam attack probe had “established clear linkages” to operatives across the border.
"Intelligence and monitoring of Pakistan-based terror modules showed that further attacks against India were impending, therefore it was necessary to take pre-emptive and precautionary strikes,” Misri told a press briefing.
Pakistan, meanwhile, said it was willing to “wrap up” tensions with India, if New Delhi indicates it will de-escalate the situation, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said Wednesday. Pakistan claims to have downed Indian planes.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who chaired a high-level cabinet meeting soon after the strikes, has postponed his upcoming visits to Croatia, Norway, and the Netherlands. Modi monitored the operation through the night. India has also called an all-party meeting on Thursday to brief opposition leaders on the strikes.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry condemned the strikes and claimed the Indian Air Force had launched long-range precision weapons from within its own airspace, targeting sites across the border. Islamabad said it was assessing the damage, and warned of “serious consequences.” Pakistan denied that “terrorist” camps had been hit, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, PTI reported that at least 12 people were killed in Pakistani fire across the LoC and the international border. The worst-hit was Poonch district which accounted for all the civilian deaths, the officials said.
The indiscriminate shelling by Pakistan created panic among the border residents who were forced to take refuge in underground bunkers or shift to safer places within or outside their villages, the officials said.
The shelling was reported from all along the LoC in Poonch, including Balakote, Mendhar, Mankote, Krishna Ghati, Gulpur, Kerni and even Poonch district headquarters, resulting in damage to dozens of houses and vehicles, they said.
The officials identified the deceased as Balvinder Kour alias “Ruby” (33), Mohd Zain Khan (10), his elder sister Zoya Khan (12), Mohd Akram (40), Amrik Singh (55), Mohd Iqbal (45), Ranjeet Singh (48), Shakeela Bi (40), Amarjeet Singh (47), Maryam Khatoon (7), Vihaan Bhargav (13) and Mohd Rafi (40).
Ten persons, including five minor children, were also injured in cross-border shelling in Uri sector of Baramulla district, while three others were injured in Rajouri district, the officials said, adding several houses also caught fire due to shelling in Karnah sector of Kupwara district.
The shelling from across the border was intense till noon and later continued intermittently, mostly restricted to the Poonch sector.
Locals faced a tough time in evacuating the victims to hospital in view of the heavy shelling which also hit Poonch bus stand, damaging several vehicles, the officials said.
Multiple civilian airports across northern India – including Srinagar, Jammu, and Amritsar – were shut down or placed on high alert. Over 160 flights were cancelled or diverted, as airspace near military installations was restricted.
Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources, reported that Indian officials conveyed to the U.S. and key allies that Operation Sindoor was “non-escalatory” and “targeted solely at eliminating terrorist infrastructure.” One official told Bloomberg the government hoped to prevent further retaliation but had prepared for multiple scenarios.
"Given the scale of the Indian strike, which was far greater than what we saw in 2019, we can expect a sizable Pakistani response," Michael Kugelman, a Washington-based South Asia analyst, told Reuters. "We’ve had a strike and a counter-strike, and what comes next will be the strongest indication of just how serious a crisis this could become," he said.
US President Donald Trump called the fighting "a shame" and added, "I hope it ends quickly." Secretary of State Marco Rubio has told India and Pakistan “to keep lines of communication open and avoid escalation”.
In Muzaffarabad, the capital of PoK, Reuters reported that damage from the Indian strike was visible. Security forces surrounded a small mosque in a hillside residential neighbourhood which had been hit, with its minaret collapsed.
The Pakistani defence minister told Geo that all targeted sites were civilian and not militant camps. He said India's claim of targeting "camps of terrorists is false."
Union home minister Amit Shah has ordered all paramilitary forces to recall personnel on leave. He held a late-night review with security agencies and directed state authorities to relocate civilians from border areas as a precaution.
According to the Indian government, the following camps were targeted: Markaz Subhan Allah, Bahawalpur (JeM HQ); Markaz Taiba, Muridke (LeT HQ); Sarjal camp, Tehra Kalan (JeM); Mehmoona Joya, Sialkot (HM); Markaz Ahle Hadith, Barnala (LeT); Markaz Abbas and Maskar Raheel Shahid, Kotli (JeM, HM); Shawai Nalla Camp, Muzaffarabad (LeT); Syedna Bilal Camp, Muzaffarabad (JeM).
Each target, Indian officials said, had been selected based on “credible intelligence” indicating operational links to the April 22 attack in Pahalgam.
