What is ‘Operation Sindoor’?
Operation Sindoor is the military codename for what India described as a “precision strike” on Pakistan, and carried out in what New Delhi said was a response to the April 22 attack on Indian tourists by suspected rebels in Indian-administered Kashmir.
- Indian forces said they struck “terrorist infrastructure” at nine locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir as part of Operation Sindoor.
- Indian media said the strikes specifically targeted the armed groups Jaish-e-Muhammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba, which are both based in Kashmir and want the region to merge with Pakistan.
- India’s military separately said “no Pakistan military facilities have been targeted”, while it had “demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution” during the strike.
- The India Today news site said the name of the mission sent a “message” to Pakistan. Sindoor is the word for vermilion, which is a mark of married Hindu women. It is a reference to the April 22 Pahalgam attack, “in which men, including those newly married, were singled out on the basis of their religion and killed by terrorists”, India Today reports.
Mosque, government buildings damaged in India’s attack on Pakistan
Destruction at the Bilal Mosque in Shawai, Muzaffarabad
World must have ‘zero tolerance for terrorism,’ Indian foreign minister says
Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has made his first public comments on New Delhi’s attacks on Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir.
“The world must show zero tolerance for terrorism,” Jaishankar said in a post on his official X account.
How did we get here?
Today’s escalation follows weeks of anticipation in the wake of the April 22 attack on tourists in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir in which 26 people were killed. India has implied Pakistan may have been involved in the attack, a claim Islamabad has denied.
The two countries have long been at odds over the status of Kashmir, a picturesque valley that both claim in full.
Relations between the pair have tanked since the attack. They have scaled back diplomatic engagement, suspended their participation in bilateral treaties, and effectively expelled each other’s citizens.
At the end of April, Pakistan said it had “credible intelligence” that India might launch a military strike against it within the next few days.
Earlier today, Pakistan blamed India after seven soldiers were killed in an improvised explosive device in the southwestern province of Balochistan.
What happened during the Pahalgam attack?
- At about 2:45pm (09:15 GMT) on April 22, armed men in camouflage clothes emerged from a nearby forest in the famous resort town in Indian-administered Kashmir.
- The attackers opened indiscriminate fire at Baisaran meadow, a scenic uphill area accessible only by foot or pony rides, and caught victims, mostly tourists, off guard, according to officials.
- At least 25 Indian nationals and one Nepalese citizen were killed – the deadliest such attack in a quarter-century in Indian-administered Kashmir.
- The attack also unfolded as US Vice President JD Vance was on a five-day visit to India.
