Flashback to India’s strikes against terror in Pakistan's Balakot after 2019 Pulwama attack

On February 14, 2019, a suicide bomber in a Scorpio SUV laden with 350 kg of explosives struck one of the buses of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy near Pulwama on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway, claiming lives of 40 jawans. The convoy was carrying more than 75 vehicles and going towards Srinagar.

The car was driven by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist Adil Ahmad Dar from Kakapora of Pulwama district where the attack had taken place. Operation Sindoor LIVE Updates

Twelve days later, on February 26, India carried out strikes at the “biggest” training camp of the JeM in Balakot of Pakistan. After the strikes, India said in a statement that a number of “JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated.”

India said, “In an intelligence led operation in the early hours of today, India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot. This facility at Balakot was headed by MAULANA YOUSUF AZHAR (alias USTAD GHOURI), the brother-in-law of MASOOD AZHAR, Chief of JeM.”

This non-military preemptive action was specifically targeted at the JeM camp, India said.

Like the Balakot strikes that followed the 2019 Pulwama terror attack, Operation Sindoor on early Wednesday morning came as India’s sharp military response — this time after the deadly Pahalgam attack in which 26 were killed in Baisaran Valley.

Back then, India sent fighter jets to hit the JeM camp; now, in a far bigger move, all three defence forces united for joint strikes on nine targets in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied-Kashmir (PoK). The Balakot strikes were conducted after 12 days of Pulwama attack; Operation Sindoor was launched after two weeks (15 days) of the Pahalgam attack.

What did India say after Operation Sindoor?

In retaliation to the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 persons were killed, Indian armed forces – Army, Navy and Air Force – carried out missile strikes early Wednesday, May 7, on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, including the Jaish-e-Mohammad stronghold of Bahawalpur, Lashkar-e-Taiba's base Muridke and Sialkot.

The nine targets that India hit are: four in Pakistan, including Bahawalpur, Muridke, and Sialkot, and five in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoK), ANI quoted sources as saying. They are:

1. Markaz Subhan Allah Bahawalpur
2. Markaz Taiba, Muridke
3. Sarjal / Tehra Kalan
4. Mehmoona Joya Facility, Sialko
5. Markaz Ahle Hadith Barnala, Bhimber (in photo)

6. Markaz Abbas, Kotli

7. Maskar Raheel Shahid, located in Kotli District

8. Markaz Syedna Bilal

9. Shawai Nallah Camp in Muzaffarabad (in photo)

In an official statement, the Ministry of Defence stated, “In the early hours of Wednesday, the Indian Army launched Operation Sindoor, hitting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed.”

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"Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted. India has demonstrated considerable restraint in the selection of targets and method of execution," the statement added.