New Delhi, May 8 (UNI) Suggesting that Islamabad was escalating confrontation, India on Thursday said Pakistan last night “attempted to engage a number of military targets” in this country, prompting a response “in the same domain with same intensity”, with the neighbouring nation’s Air Defence Radars and Systems being targeted.

Besides targeting military assets of India at 15 locations, Pakistan “increased the intensity” of its unprovoked firing across the Line of Control using Mortars and heavy calibre Artillery in areas in Kupwara, Baramulla, Uri, Poonch, Mendhar and Rajouri sectors in Jammu and Kashmir, resulting in the killing of 16 innocent civilians, including 3 women and 5 children, the Defence Ministry said.

“Here too, India was compelled to respond to bring Mortar and Artillery fire from Pakistan to a halt,” the ministry said in a statement.

The statement referred to the Press Briefing on ‘Operation SINDOOR’ held yesterday, where India had called its response to the Pahalgam terror attack as “focused, measured and non-escalatory”.

The ‘Operation Sindoor’ involved aerial attacks at 9 major terror camps at various places of Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), including Muridke, Bahawalpur and Sialkot in Punjab Province and Muzaffarabad and Kotli in PoJK.

The Defence Ministry today reminded that “It was specifically mentioned (in the Press Briefing yesterday) that Pakistani military establishments had not been targeted” and that “any attack on military targets in India will invite a suitable response.”

However, last night, “Pakistan attempted to engage a number of military targets in 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,” the ministry said.

“These (attempts) were neutralised by the Integrated Counter UAS Grid and Air Defence systems. The debris of these attacks is now being recovered from a number of locations that prove the Pakistani attacks,” it said.

“Today morning Indian Armed Forces targeted Air Defence Radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan… It has been reliably learnt that an Air Defence system at Lahore has been neutralised,” the statement said.

Underlining that the “Indian response has been in the same domain with same intensity as Pakistan”, the ministry said, “Indian Armed Forces reiterate their commitment to non-escalation, provided it is respected by the Pakistani military.”

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