It was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who picked the evocative term "Operation Sindoor" to name the Indian armed forces' strikes on nine terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, official sources said on Wednesday.

With terrorists gunning down 26 civilians, all men and mostly tourists, and the devastated wives of several of the victims becoming the face of the tragedy, the name "Operation Sindoor" was considered the appropriate moniker for the retaliatory exercise, they noted.

Indian armed forces carried out missile strikes on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, including the Jaish-e-Mohammad stronghold of Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba's base in Muridke.

The military strikes were conducted under Operation Sindoor two weeks after the Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians.