25-minute operation targeted 9 terror camps in Pakistan, ready to tackle escalation: Govt

India on Wednesday announced that it had launched military strikes on nine terror camps located in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) during a 25-minute operation, employing a combination of land and air strikes.

The government emphasised that it is fully prepared to respond to any escalation initiated by its western, nuclear-armed neighbor.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, referencing the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, stated, “India exercised its right to respond, to pre-empt, and to deter further such cross-border attacks.”

The actions were measured, non-escalatory, proportionate, and responsible. They focused on dismantling the terrorist infrastructure and disabling terrorists likely to be sent across to India, Misri said at the press briefing.

Here’s the full text of Foreign Secretary’s statement on Operation Sindoor

Military officials – Col Sophia Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh – were part of the briefing.

Col Qureshi said, “no civilian targets or military installations have been hit.”

The operation was carried out between 1:05 am and 1:30 am on Wednesday, Col Qureshi said, while showing videos of the strikes recorded by Indian air-borne surveillance.

Wing Commander Vyomika Singh said, “Indian armed forces are fully prepared to respond to Pakistani misadventures, if any, that will escalate the situation”.

The strikes were undertaken through precision capability, niche technology and a careful selection of warheads was ensured. The point of impact in each of the target was a specific building or a group of buildings, all the targets were neutralised with clinical efficiency, Wing Commander Singh added.

Giving an overview, Foreign Secretary Misri referred to past decisions — including holding the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance — and said, “It was deemed essential that the perpetrators and planners of the April 22 attack be brought to justice”.

Despite a fortnight having passed since the attacks, there has been no demonstrable step from Pakistan to take action against the terrorist infrastructure on its territory or on territory under its control. Instead, all it has indulged in are denials and allegations, he said.

Our intelligence monitoring of Pakistan-based terrorist modules indicated that further attacks against India were impending. There was thus a compulsion both to deter and to pre-empt, Misri said, explaining the rationale behind the military strikes.

He said the Pakistan-trained terrorists belonging to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) carried out the savage attack at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir.

The attack was clearly driven by the objective of undermining normalcy returning to Jammu and Kashmir. In particular, it was designed to impact the mainstay of the economy, tourism, with a record 23 million tourists visiting the valley last year, said Misri.

The calculation, presumably, was that harming growth and development in the Union Territory would help keep it backward and create fertile ground for continued cross-border terrorism from Pakistan.

Misri said a group calling itself “The Resistance Front” has claimed responsibility for the attack. This group is a front for the UN-proscribed Pakistani terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Taiba. It is notable that India had given inputs about the TRF in the half-yearly report to the monitoring team of the UN’s 1267 Sanctions Committee in May and November 2024, bringing out its role as a cover for Pakistan-based terrorist groups.

India had informed the monitoring team about Lashkar and Jaish-e-Mohammad operating through small terror groups such as the TRF. Pakistan’s pressure to remove references to TRF in the April 25 UN Security Council Press Statement is notable in this regard.

Investigations into the Pahalgam terror attack have brought out the communication notes of terrorists in and to Pakistan. The claims made by the Resistance Front and their reposting by known social media handles of the Lashkar-e-Taiba speak for themselves, Misri said.

Identification of the attackers based on eyewitness accounts, as well as other information available to law enforcement agencies, has also progressed. Our intelligence has developed an accurate picture of the planners and backers of this team, he added.

India