Tanks are transported on a road in Muridke near Lahore, a small town near Lahore, on Wednesday, hours after Indian Air Force fighter jets struck nine locations across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
The operation, named Operation Sindoor by Indian armed forces, came in direct response to the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, where armed militants executed civilians in a meadow in Baisaran.
In Pakistan’s Punjab Province, trucks carrying military hardware moved steadily toward forward positions. Near Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Pakistani soldiers were seen guarding a mosque damaged by the Indian strikes.
At another site in Muridke, rescuers combed through debris of a government complex that was partially destroyed, searching for survivors.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the strikes as an “act of war.” In a statement released early Wednesday, Sharif said, “Pakistan has every right to give a befitting reply to this act of war imposed by India, and a strong response is indeed being given.” He confirmed that five locations in Pakistan were hit.
The Indian military’s choice of the name Sindoor — a traditional red powder used by married Hindu women was symbolic. Indian officials said it was meant as a reminder of the Pahalgam attackers’ deliberate targeting of men, separating them from women before shooting them.