Operation Sindoor: India Strikes LeT Targets in Pakistan and PoK
Operation Sindoor and footage of missile attack in Bahawalpur in Pakistan (Image credit X.com)
India Hits Multiple LeT Targets with ‘Operation Sindoor’
By TRH News Desk
NEW DELHI, May 7, 2025 – The Indian Armed Forces launched Operation Sindoor, targeting nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), against terror infrastructure of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). The front of the terror outfit had been accused of carrying the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Ministry of Defence in a statement said that the operation was a “focused, measured, and non-escalatory” response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians. The attack was aimed at dismantling terrorist infrastructure linked to the Pahalgam terror assault, said the Ministry of Defence.
It further stated that “no Pakistani military facilities were targeted”. The strikes hit locations, including Bahawalpur, Muzaffarabad, and Rawalpindi, targeting facilities allegedly used to plan and direct attacks against India.
The operation follows weeks of heightened tensions, with India accusing Pakistan of supporting militancy in Kashmir, a charge Islamabad denies.
Abdul Kitabi in a post on quoted Pakistani reporters, claiming: “Footage shared by Pakistani reporters from Bahawalpur (Pakistan), attacked by Indian army. According to eyewitnesses report 8 SU30 MKI and 4 Rafael aircraft who were providing air defence attacked LeT training camps.”
He added that “Indian air force used Brahmos NG , air lunched missile Scalp missile of French origin.”
The Indian Army in a post on X said that “justice has been served”. The message was in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. Al Arabia News in a report said that Pakistan has shut down its air space or 48 hours in a bid to “prepare for a retaliation against Indian attacks”.
Geopolitical commentator Michael Kugelman in a post on X said that “India has described tonight’s military operation as an effort to target terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan (this is also how it described its actions during the 2016 and 2019 crises).”
He quoted India’s Defence Ministry saying that “no military sites were targeted and that the strikes were meant to be non-escalatory”. “Pakistan will not view them as non-escalatory, of course,” added Kugelman.
Geopolitical experts have weighed in on the implications of Operation Sindoor. Dr. Manjari Chatterjee Miller, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, described in a post on X the strikes as a calculated move to restore domestic confidence in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which faced criticism for security lapses in Pahalgam.
“This is less about territorial gains and more about signaling resolve to both domestic audiences and Pakistan,” she said.
Miller warned, however, that the operation risks further destabilizing India-Pakistan relations, already strained since the 2019 Pulwama crisis.
Crisisgroup.com quoted Praveen Donthi, a South Asia expert at the International Crisis Group saying that “with global attention distracted by other crises, India’s action may not draw the international mediation needed to de-escalate”.
Donthi emphasized that Pakistan’s obligation to respond, even symbolically, could spiral into unintended conflict. “Both sides are nuclear powers, and miscalculation is a real danger,” he cautioned.
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