Indian Air Force Confirms Strike on Karachi’s Malir Cantonment During Operation Sindoor

Indian Air Force Confirms Strike on Karachi: India launched a coordinated tri-service engagement against critical military and terror infrastructure targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK) on May 12, said senior army officials.

Air Marshal AK Bharti, Director-General of Operations for IAF, laid out the pre-planned precision airstrikes at a special media briefing. The airstrike near Karachi was a precision strike on a surface-to-air missile site at Malir Cantonment, which is a hardened military facility just over 30 km from Karachi.

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"Each action taken was part of a deliberate and proportionate military response to the pattern of drone, missile, and cross-border aggression originating from Pakistan," Air Marshal Bharti said.

The IAF also conducted a precision strike on a radar site near Lahore, which used the Israeli-origin HARPY loitering munitions to take out a Chinese HQ-9 air defence capability.

A second radar site near Gujranwala, in Punjab province, was also taken out, which according to the IAF also signalled India's intent to degrade Pakistan's early warning and surveillance ability.

The ample budgetary and policy support by the government provided the forces the ability over the last decade to consolidate an impregnable air defence shield that repulsed attacks by Pakistan forces, which was demonstrated during India's anti-terror 'Operation Sindoor', said the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO).

AK Bharti said all airbases and military bases are operational and ready now for their next missions and that certain false information had attempted to be spread.

“Our fight is with the terrorists and not with Pakistani military or civilians,” he reiterated.

As the Director General of Military Operations, Rajiv Ghai stated, the multi-layered counter-drone and air defence grid turned out to be the decisive shield that thwarted all Pakistan air actions on the nights of 9 and 10 May. He said defense systems destroyed Chinese, and Turkish made drones and PL-15 missiles during Operation Sindoor, preventing them from moving about in our air space.

Rajiv shared videos of a crater caused by Indian bombs and missiles on Pakistan’s Noor Khan air base., claiming Indian airfields are operational. “I want to praise the Border Security Force also, who complemented our efforts by joining our counter-armed response,” he said.

“There has been absolute synergy in the three services, and not only have we been supported by government agencies, but also the 140 crore people,” he said.

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“Our fight was against terror, and on May 7, we hit only terror hubs, but the Pakistani Army converted it into its own fight by supporting terrorists,” said Air Marshal Bharti. He confirmed the commendable success of the multi-layered and integrated air defence (AD) system were the decisive shield, which prevented air borne from Pakistan of any kind, including Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles, in passing into our airspace. Even older battle proven systems' systems performed admirably; as indeed did the Akash system, he said.

Vice Admiral AN Pramod said Indian Navy pressure had deterred the Pakistani Navy and Air Force into keeping their distance from Arabian Sea seats of A2/AD power.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a high-level meeting with senior government officials, including Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and NSA Ajit Doval, among others, at the Prime Minister's residence.

The high-level meeting was conducted two days after India and Pakistan reached the understanding of a ceasefire with a decision that both sides DGMOs would have a conversation on May 12. Pakistan requested the ceasefire after reports from India's DGMO stated that the Indian Air Force had conducted major airstrikes that wiped out 11 of Pakistan’s airbases.

These are some more specifications for what the Indian military previously termed Operation Sindoor -- a 25-minute coordinated strike conducted on May 7.

The operation neutralized nine terror facilities 4 located in mainland Pakistan, and 5 in PoK -- resulting in the death of more than 100 terrorists, as referenced by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh previously.

Also Read: Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif Denies Presence of Active Terrorists, Calls It ‘Things from Our Past’