Indian Air Force hits key Pakistani installations in retaliatory strikes
New Delhi: India announced on Saturday that it had struck key military targets in Pakistan in retaliation for what it described as the neighbouring country’s “provocative” attacks involving drones, long-range weapons, and fighter jets aimed at its defence facilities and civilian areas. “Precision strikes were conducted with fighter jets and air-launched weapons against targets in Rafiqui, Murid, Chaklala, Rahim Yar Khan, Sukkur and Chunian,” said Indian Air Force Wing Commander Vyomika Singh to reporters, adding, “We took every precaution to have minimum collateral damage.” Radar sites at Pasrur and the Sialkot aviation base were also targeted using precision munitions.
Indian authorities have published timestamped photographs of the Adampur, Sirsa and Suratgarh airbases to counter what Singh termed “utterly false” social media reports that Pakistan had blown the bases or India’s S-400 air defence battery. “The runways and infrastructure are fully intact, as you can see,” she stated.
As the air campaign progressed, heavy artillery and mortar battles raged along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara, Baramulla, Poonch, Rajouri and Akhnoor. Army spokesperson Colonel Sofiya Qureshi reported that Pakistani forces “deliberately targeted” Indian bases in Udhampur, Pathankot, Adampur, Bhuj and Bhatinda and confirmed a high-speed missile fired from Pakistan at 1:40 am hit an air installation in Punjab. “Despite successful interceptions, there was some damage to equipment and personnel,” she added.
Pakistani planes attempted to breach Indian airspace over 26 times, from Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir to Naliya in Gujarat, each attempt being thwarted by layered air defence and combat patrols, said the Integrated Defence Staff. Pakistani shelling of Rajouri during the day had earlier killed Additional District Development Commissioner Raj Kumar Thapa and injured many civilians in Ferozepur and Jalandhar, officials said.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, accompanied by Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, in a special briefing, cautioned that Islamabad had taken on “an offensive posture intended to ratchet up tensions further.” Misri emphasised that New Delhi “does not seek escalation but is fully prepared to counter any hostile activity.” “Let me once again say—Pakistan’s behaviour has amounted to provocation and escalation,” Misri stated. “India has defended and responded in a responsible and measured manner.”
Brushing aside Pakistani charges that Indian missiles had hit Afghanistan or the Sikh sacred temple at Amritsar, Misri dismissed the charges as “not only false—they are preposterous. These are desperate fictions.” He also insisted that healthy democratic discussion in India was being misconstrued. “In India, not Pakistan, citizens enjoy the right to criticise their government. That’s democracy—not weakness,” he stated. Security officials added that additional options for retaliation remain available, although diplomatic efforts try to avert a broader war.
