It was all over within 26 minutes, say forces

It took the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force only 26 minutes to bomb to smithereens nine targets in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Pakistan that were carefully selected based on hard intelligence and their nefarious track record of perpetrating terror activities, the forces said on Wednesday.

- Rahul Singh and Rezaul H Laskar

NEW DELHI:

Two officials -- one from the army and another from the air force -- gave granular details in an official briefing on Operation Sindoor on Wednesday, mounted two weeks after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack killed 26 people.

The mission began at 1.04 am. India demonstrated considerable restraint in its response to the Pahalgam strike, but the armed forces are fully prepared to respond to any Pakistani misadventure aimed at escalating the situation, said helicopter pilot Wing Commander Vyomika Singh.

The five terror training camps targeted with precision weapons across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir were between nine and 30 km inside PoK, while the four targets on the other side of the international border (IB) six to 100 km inside Pakistan.

The cross-border strikes by India weren't unexpected.

The countdown to the military action began on April 29 after Prime Minister Narendra Modi granted the armed forces a free hand to respond forcefully to the Pahalgam strike, underlining that they had full operational freedom to decide on "the mode, targets, and timing of our response."

The Pakistan Army on Wednesday responded by opening artillery fire at multiple points across the LoC in J&K. This was the first time it used artillery to target forward areas. The army's counter-fire was measured but effective, people aware of the developments said.