SRINAGAR, New Delhi: India said on early Wednesday that it had carried out Operation Sindoor, hitting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.India targeted the terror infrastructure from where terrorist attacks have been planned and directed, the Army said.As this paper went to print at 2.45 am, reports spoke of a huge explosion in Srinagar. Its sources could not be confirmed.Altogether, nine sites have been targeted, it said.”Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted. India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution,” the Indian Army said.”These steps come in the wake of the barbaric Pahalgam terrorist attack in which 25 Indians and one Nepali citizen were murdered. We are living up to the commitment that those responsible for this attack will be held accountable,” it said.In a high-level meeting with the top defence brass, Prime Minister Modi on April 29 gave the armed forces “complete operational freedom” to decide on the mode, targets and timing of the response to the Pahalgam terror attack. Modi also emphasised the national resolve to deal a “crushing blow to terrorism”.In Islamabad, the Pakistan Army claimed that India had launched air strikes against the country in early Wednesday, vowing to respond to the attack.A Reuters report said multiple loud explosions were heard in several places in Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir on Wednesday.After the explosions, power was blacked out in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, witnesses said. It was not immediately clear what the explosions were.Pakistan Army spokesman Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said that missile strikes were fired by India at Kotli and Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Bahawalpur in Punjab.“Some time ago, India launched air strikes on Subhanullah mosque in Bahwalpur’s Ahmed East area, Kotli and Muzaffarabad at three places from the air,” he told ARY News channel.“All of our air force jets are airborne. This cowardly and shameful attack was carried out from within India’s airspace. They were never allowed to come and intrude into the space of Pakistan, he said.“Let me say it unequivocally: Pakistan will respond to this at a time and place of its own choosing. This heinous provocation will not go unanswered,” he added.He said that damage assessments are ongoing and that he would provide more information later.This “temporary happiness” that India has achieved with this attack will be replaced with enduring grief, he added.Earlier in the day. United Nations Security Council member nations told Islamabad to sort out the Kashmir dispute bilaterally, thwarting Pakistan’s attempt to internationalise the situation in Kashmir in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack.At a closed-door consultation, the UNSC called for de-escalation and dialogue between New Delhi and Islamabad as several member nations came down heavily on Pakistan and posed tough questions over the terror group Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) operating from its soil, according to a news agency report.The UNSC members nations pointed out to Islamabad that tourists were gunned down after segregation based on religion, and condemned the Pahalgam terror attack in the Kashmir Valley that took place April 22, in which 26 people lost their lives. Islamabad was told that its nuclear rhetoric and missile tests were escalating tension with India.Also, Pakistan’s “false flag” narrative accusing India was soundly rejected, the reports suggestedThe sound of a huge blast and sudden loud noise of warplanes flying overhead caused panic woke up almost in fear the people Srinagar and its neighborhoods shortly after India confirmed it has launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ hitting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan -occupied Jammu and Kashmir Tuesday night.The blast booms shock homes.It was not immediately known what the huge blast was about but some Pakistani X handles reported the Srinagar airbase has been targeted by the neighbouring country’s forces in retaliation to the Indian missile attacks.Meanwhile, heavy exchanges of fire between the facing armies are reported from various sectors along the Line of Control.
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