May 7, 2026 marks the first anniversary of Operation Sindoor, India’s large-scale retaliatory strikes carried out on May 7, 2025 in response to the Pahalgam terror attack in April 2025 that killed more than two dozen people. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had vowed India would “strike back at a time and place of its choosing” and would not bow to “nuclear blackmail”; 15 days after Pahalgam New Delhi launched precision strikes deep inside Pakistan and Pakistan‑occupied Kashmir.
Operation Sindoor began between 1:00 and 1:30 am on May 7, 2025, when Indian forces targeted nine terror bases, including what were described as Jaish‑e‑Mohammad’s headquarters in Bahawalpur and a Lashkar‑e‑Taiba training site in Muridke. Indian authorities said the strikes killed more than 100 militants, naming Yusuf Azhar, Abdul Malik Rauf and Mudasir Ahmed among those eliminated. New Delhi also reported hits on Pakistani bases at Chaklala, Rafiqui and Rahim Yar Khan and damage to high‑end aircraft, while claiming it launched 24 missile strikes-the most it had ever used in a single day. Pakistan’s retaliatory use of drones and missiles, officials said, was largely blunted by Indian air‑defence systems, including indigenously produced Akash missiles and the SAMAR surface‑to‑air system. New Delhi released satellite imagery showing damage to several airbases; Pakistan publicly acknowledged damage at installations such as Nur Khan.
Sindoor is the latest in a series of cross‑border responses India has mounted since 2014. The first widely publicised action came after the Uri attack of September 16, 2016, in which 19 soldiers were killed. On the night of September 28–29, 2016, Indian heliborne and ground forces struck seven militant launch pads across the Line of Control that were said to be two to three kilometres inside Pakistan‑occupied Kashmir; media estimates at the time put casualties between roughly 35 and 70. Prime Minister Modi vowed the “despicable attack” would “not go unpunished.”
The Balakot airstrike of February 26, 2019 followed the February 14, 2019 Pulwama suicide bombing that killed 40 CRPF personnel. Around 3:30 am on February 26 a dozen Mirage‑2000 jets carrying Israeli SPICE‑2000 precision munitions crossed the Line of Control and struck a Jaish training camp in Balakot. Indian officials called the 21‑minute mission Operation Bandar and said senior militants were killed; reports at the time said there were no civilian casualties.
Officials and Prime Minister Modi have drawn distinctions between the three operations: Uri targeted launch pads near the LoC, Balakot struck a training centre deep inside Pakistan, and Sindoor aimed to dismantle multiple high‑value terrorist epicentres in a coordinated, tri‑service strike.
Original Source: https://www.firstpost.com/explainers/uri-vs-balakot-vs-sindoor-how-indias-three-operations-against-pakistan-differ-14008314.html
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Publish Date: 2026-05-07 07:10:00
