Indian armed forces on Thursday successfully repelled an overnight attempt by Pakistan to strike multiple military installations across northern and western India using drones and missiles. In retaliation, India launched a series of strikes targeting and destroying Pakistan’s air defense systems, including a key installation in Lahore.
According to the Ministry of Defence (MoD), Pakistan had attempted to target several strategic locations including Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Pathankot, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Adampur, Bhatinda, Chandigarh, Nal, Phalodi, Uttarlai, and Bhuj.
“These were neutralized by the Integrated Counter UAS Grid and Air Defence systems. The debris of these attacks is now being recovered from a number of locations that prove the Pakistani attacks,” the ministry stated.
The Indian response reportedly focused on neutralizing enemy air defense infrastructure.
“Today morning Indian Armed Forces targeted Air Defence Radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan. Indian response has been in the same domain with the same intensity as Pakistan. It has been reliably learnt that an Air Defence system at Lahore has been neutralised,” the MoD said in an official statement.
This escalation follows India’s Operation Sindoor, launched a day earlier, during which Indian armed forces carried out coordinated missile strikes on nine terror targets across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The strikes included key bases of groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammad in Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba in Muridke. According to government sources, these operations resulted in the death of approximately 100 terrorists.
Amid these developments, the MoD also reported intensified unprovoked cross-border firing by Pakistan along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, affecting areas such as Kupwara, Baramulla, Uri, Poonch, Mendhar, and Rajouri.
“Sixteen innocent lives have been lost, including three women and five children, due to Pakistani firing. Here too, India was compelled to respond to bring Mortar and Artillery fire from Pakistan to a halt,” the ministry noted.
It further emphasized that the Indian Army remains committed to non-escalation, “provided it is respected by the Pakistani military.”
Earlier, the Centre had characterized Operation Sindoor as “focused, measured and non-escalatory,” explicitly stating that Pakistani military establishments had not been targeted. However, it had warned that any attack on Indian military targets would provoke an appropriate response.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s military issued its own version of events. Army spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmad Sharif claimed that Indian forces fired several Israeli-made Harop drones at targets inside Pakistan, resulting in one civilian death and injuries to five individuals, including four soldiers. He said Pakistani forces had successfully shot down 25 drones.
“The armed forces are neutralizing them as we speak,” Sharif said on state-run Pakistan Television. He added that drone debris had caused damage in several areas, including Sindh province, where one civilian was killed, and Lahore, where four soldiers were injured.
