In the early hours of Wednesday, India launched a military operation targeting sites inside Pakistan, just two weeks after a brutal attack in the Pahalgam region of Kashmir that left 26 people dead.
India’s military, under the banner of what it calls Operation Sindoor, says it struck nine locations it claims housed terrorist infrastructure. Among the hit areas were six cities across Pakistan — including four sites in the Punjab province, marking the first time India has targeted Pakistan’s most populous region since the 1971 war — as well as Muzaffarabad and Kotli in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
Pakistan’s military confirmed the strikes, reporting that at least 31 people were killed, including a three-year-old child, a 16-year-old girl, and an 18-year-old boy. The most devastating strike occurred in Ahmedpur Sharqia near Bahawalpur, where a mosque compound was hit.
In response, Pakistan scrambled its fighter jets and claimed it shot down five Indian aircraft, including three Rafale jets. However, India has yet to issue any statement on these claims.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed swift retaliation, while the nation’s security forces were placed on high alert, hospitals were put on emergency footing, and schools were shut across the affected regions.
The Indian attack comes in the wake of a chilling assault on April 22 in Pahalgam, Kashmir, where gunmen killed 25 tourists and a local pony rider. Survivors recounted how the attackers separated the men from women and identified non-Muslims before executing them.
India has blamed The Resistance Front, a group it alleges is backed by Pakistan, though Islamabad has strongly denied any involvement, calling for an impartial international investigation.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had vowed to hunt down the perpetrators “to the ends of the earth.” With no capture of the attackers on Indian soil, the Indian government moved instead to launch strikes across the border.
At the heart of this latest flare-up is the long-disputed Kashmir region, over which India and Pakistan have fought three wars. Both nations claim the region in full but control separate parts.
In the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack, tensions skyrocketed. India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty, revoked Pakistani visas, and expelled diplomats. Pakistan, in turn, threatened to suspend key bilateral agreements, and both countries have closed borders and airspace.
India’s choice to name the offensive Operation Sindoor carries symbolic weight. Sindoor is a red powder traditionally worn by Hindu married women — a poignant reference, observers say, to the victims of the Pahalgam attack, many of whose widows now remove this mark of marriage following their husbands’ deaths.
With two nuclear-armed neighbors now teetering on the brink of wider conflict, the world is watching closely. We will continue to follow this development and bring you the latest updates as they unfold.
Reporting by Carl Montel.
