Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Wednesday said the Indian Air Force and the Indian Army carried out ‘Operation Sindoor’ in a joint operation to avenge the death of 26 tourists killed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam in the April 22 terror attack.

He said the intent behind the strike on terrorist hideouts in Pakistan in the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday is to ensure the return of normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir post the terror strike.

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“The attack in Pahalgam was marked by extreme barbarity, with the victims mostly killed with head-shots from close range and in front of their families. Family members were deliberately traumatized through the manner of the killing, accompanied by the exhortation that they should take back the message,” said Misri while addressing a media briefing.

“The manner of the attack was also driven by an objective of provoking communal discord, both in Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of the Nation. It is to the credit of the government and the people of India that these designs were foiled,” he added.

It was revealed that post Pahalgam, the Pakistan based terror outfits were planning additional attacks in India. “Our intelligence monitoring of Pakistan-based terrorist modules indicated that further attacks against India were impending. There was thus a compulsion both to deter and to pre-empt. Our actions were measured and non-escalatory, proportionate and responsible. They focused on dismantling terrorists’ infrastructure,” he said.

The Resistance Force (TRF), an offshoot of Lashkar-e-Taiba, had taken the responsibility of the Pahalgam massacre.

“Investigations into the Pahalgam terror attack have brought out the communication nodes of terrorists in and to Pakistan. The claims made by The Resistance Front and their reposting by known social media handles of the Lashkar-e-Taiba speak for themselves. Identification of the attackers, based on eyewitness accounts, as well as other information available to law enforcement agencies, has also progressed. Our intelligence has developed an accurate picture of the planners and backers of this team,” said Misri.

In the highly secretive operation, India carried out strikes against nine terror camps of Hizb-ul-Mujahidin (HM, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) located in both Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir. It included Markaz Subhan Allah, Bahawalpur – JeM, Markaz Taiba, Muridke – LeT, Sarjal, Tehra Kalan – JeM, Mehmoona Joya, Sialkot – HM, Markaz Ahle Hadith, Barnala – LeT, Markaz Abbas, Kotli – JeM, Maskar Raheel Shahid, Kotli – HM, Shawai Nalla Camp, Muzaffarabad – LeT, and Syedna Bilal Camp, Muzaffarabad – JeM.