Saturday 10 / May / 2025
Pakistan's armed forces have started "retaliation" against "Indian aggression," according to security sources quoted by Pakistani state broadcaster PTV on Saturday morning.
The operation was reportedly called "Bunyan-un-Marsoos" — meaning a concrete structure or firm foundation.
The Pakistani military itself said it had launched a "military operation" targeting "multiple locations in India."
It claimed to have hit a missile storage facility and two air bases in Pathankot in north-western India and Udhampur in Kashmir.
The Indian defense and foreign ministries are yet to comment on either the alleged Indian strikes or the reported Pakistani response.
'It looks like a war here': Kashmir residents recount strikes
Local residents in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Saturday morning described hearing loud explosions in the cities of Srinagar and Jammu, as well as the garrison town of Udhampur, which Pakistan's military claimed to have targeted in what it called retaliatory strikes.
"[The] explosions that we are hearing today are different from the ones we heard the last two nights during drone attacks," Sheesh Paul Vaid, the region's former top police official and a resident of Jammu, told the Associated Press, adding: "It looks like a war here."
He said it appeared army sites were being targeted since the explosions were heard from areas that have military bases.In Srinagar, resident Mohammed Yasin said he heard at least two explosions. "Our home shook and windows rattled," he told AP.
Journalists from the AFP news agency also confirmed hearing explosions in Srinagar.
Pakistan PM Sharif convenes meeting of top security body
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called a meeting of the National Command Authority — the top body of civilian and military officials responsible for security decisions, including those related to Pakistan's nuclear arsenal.
The Pakistani armed forces said they used medium-range Al-Fatah missiles what they called their retaliatory attack on air bases and a missile storage facility in India.
According to state broadcaster PTV, the missiles had been symbolically given the names of Pakistani children killed during Indian strikes in the past week before launch.
Pakistan had 'no other option' but to strike India — foreign minister
Pakistan's Foreign Minister, Ishaq Dar, said on Saturday morning that his country was left with no choice but to respond to Indian aggression and blamed New Delhi for the escalation.
"There was no other option because India showed no sincerity in response to the diplomatic efforts made by friendly countries," Dar told Geo News.
Dar said the world wanted peace in the region, but accused India of ignoring pleas from the international community to de-escalate and defuse the situation.
"We acted only after India continued firing drones and missiles," he said.
