Over 300 flights cancelled; 25 airports shut

Targets were scouted, precision weaponry used

- AMRITA NAYAK DUTTA & P VAIDYANATHAN IYER

IN JUST 25 minutes, Operation Sindoor marked a new red line significantly raising Pakistan's cost of a terror strike against India.

The coordinated assault, using multiple long-range high-precision strike weapons at predetermined targets in PoK and in Pakistan, has "upped the ante and signalled that India can strike deep inside," said a senior security official. "This is a big leap forward — just short of war."

This is borne out by the range and number of targets on Tuesday and their relative distance from the LoC or the border.

In 2016, after the Uri attack, the incursions by the Army were up to 3 km inside PoK. In 2019, after Pulwama, the aerial strike was on Balakot, 60 km off the LoC in Pakistan. Operation Sindoor reached as deep as Bahawalpur, 150 km from the border.

Another shift from previous strikes, officials said, was the "capture of clear, conclusive evidence" that the targets had been struck. "This reinforces the credibility of the attack and points to an upgrade in capacity as well," said the official.

While the weapons used in the operation—which hit 21 terror camps across nine locations in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir and in the Punjab province of Pakistan—have not been made public, the targets point to a range of precision-guided long-range weapons that India has acquired in its arsenal in recent years.