India shot down Pakistani JF-17 fighter jets Thursday following Islamabad’s missile attacks targeting civilian areas in Jammu and nearby regions.
The attempted strikes on Jammu civil airport, Samba, RS Pura, Arnia, and surrounding areas were largely intercepted by Indian air defence systems, officials said.
Operation Sindoor
The developments come amid ongoing cross-border tensions sparked by Operation Sindoor, a large-scale retaliatory mission launched by the Indian armed forces in response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, which killed 26 people. As part of the operation, Indian Air Force Rafale jets and Army missile units targeted nine terror camps operated by banned outfits Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
In Jammu, authorities enforced a total blackout on Thursday night as a precautionary measure amid escalating hostilities. A blackout was also observed at the Vaishno Devi Temple, a major Hindu pilgrimage site in Jammu and Kashmir.
At a press briefing, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said India’s actions were “controlled, precise, measured, considered and non-escalatory,” and added that the Pahalgam attack was the “original escalation” by Pakistan. “Pakistan escalated on April 22. We are only responding to escalation. If further escalation occurs, the response will be in the appropriate domain,” Misri said.
On the night of May 7, Pakistan attempted to strike multiple military targets across Northern and Western India, including Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Pathankot, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Adampur, Bhatinda, Chandigarh, Nal, Phalodi, Uttarlai, and Bhuj using drones and missiles. Indian officials said all incoming threats were intercepted by air defence systems, including the Russia-made S-400 ‘Sudarshan Chakra’.
PNN & Agencies
