BREAKING NEWS- Operation Sindoor: India strikes terror camps in Pakistan to avenge Pahalgam

"A little while ago, the Indian Armed Forces 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" the  Ministry of Defence said in a media release.

According to a statement by the Press Information Bureau (PIB), the operation was carried out a short while ago and aimed at neutralizing terror camps actively involved in planning and executing attacks against India. A total of nine sites have been hit during the strike.

Officials said the strikes were focused, measured, and non-escalatory, deliberately avoiding any Pakistani military installations. “India has shown significant restraint both in the selection of targets and the method of execution,” the statement added.

“India stands by its commitment that those responsible for this heinous act will be held accountable,” a government spokesperson said.

Pakistan's DG ISPR, Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhary said India targeted sites in Kotli, Muridke, Bahawalpur, and Muzaffarabad.

Muridke is the headquarters of the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is run by Hafiz Saeed, and Bahalwapur in Pakistan's Punjab province is the base of Jaish-e-Mohammad, an outfit run by Masood Azhar, reported NDTV.

Pakistan vows to hit back, claims it shot down Indian aircraft 

Pakistan said it will respond to the strikes by India at a time and place of its own choosing, adding that the attack by India “will not go unanswered”.

 In a statement, Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that India's “temporary pleasure will be replaced by enduring grief”.

Pakistan also claimed it shot down Indian jets.

Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said in an interview on CNN: “I can confirm that two aircraft of Indian Air force have been taken down. The locations I have so far are around Bhatinda in India [Punjab] and Akhnoor [in occupied Kashmir].”

DG ISPR said a child was killed in the Indian attack. He said mosque was targeted in Bahawalpur while two civilians were killed in Kotli, reported Dawn.

Donald Trump Reacts

US President Donald Trump reacted to India's military strikes on terrorist camps inside Pakistan, describing the situation as "a shame" and urging both countries to de-escalate.

"It’s a shame. We just heard about it They’ve been fighting for a long timeThey have been fighting for many many decades.. and centuries actually. I just hope it ends very quickly," Trump told reporters.

"Nobody wants to see two powerful nations going down that road,” Trump said. “These are countries with long histories and deep tensions, but the world needs peace, not more conflict.”

Pahalgam Attack

Twenty-six people, including 23 Hindu male tourists, were killed by terrorists in Baisaran meadows, a popular destination in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam, on April 22.

The terrorists- belonging to The Resistance Front (TRF), which is an offshoot of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)- asked the victims to chant Islamic verses (kalma) and made them pull down their pants to be sure of their their non-Muslim religious identities (read circumcision)  before gunning them down before their families, including wives, children and daughters.

The massacre triggered a nationwide outrage and escalated India-Pakistan tensions as New Delhi vowed to avenge the killings.

In an immediate response  India suspended the landmark Indus River water-sharing treaty and closed the Attari-Wagah road border which acts a lifeline of Indo-Pak trade and people-to-people ties, besides expelling diplomats, downsizing high commissions and issuing a 48-hour deadline to Pakistani visa holders present in India to leave.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 29 gave the armed forces 'complete freedom to decide on the mode, targets, and timing' of India's military response to the Pahalgam terror attack.

PM Modi took the decision at a meeting with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, and Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan.