Operation Sindoor: India says air defence system at Lahore neutralised

India on Thursday said it had neutralised an air defence system in Lahore in a measured military response to Pakistan’s attempted drone and missile attacks on multiple Indian military installations the previous night. The Indian armed forces stated that the retaliation was calibrated, targeting military assets with precision and avoiding civilian casualties.

In a statement, the Ministry of Defence said the action was part of 'Operation Sindoor', with Indian forces targeting air defence radars and related systems at several Pakistani locations on Thursday morning. “Indian response has been in the same domain with same intensity as Pakistan,” the official statement noted.

India’s counter-strike came after Pakistan attempted to engage military sites in northern and western India — including Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Amritsar, Ludhiana, and Bhuj — between the night of May 7 and 8. The Pakistani offensive, involving drones and missiles, was thwarted by India’s Integrated Counter UAS Grid and air defence systems. Debris from the interceptions is being collected across affected regions as evidence of the attacks, the statement read.

In addition to the aerial strikes, Pakistan has escalated cross-border hostilities, intensifying unprovoked mortar and heavy artillery fire along the Line of Control (LoC). The sectors impacted include Kupwara, Baramulla, Uri, Poonch, Mendhar, and Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir.

The government confirmed the death of 16 civilians, including three women and five children, in the Pakistani shelling. “India was compelled to respond to bring mortar and artillery fire from Pakistan to a halt,” the statement read.

Despite the hostilities, the government reiterated their stance on avoiding further escalation. “The armed forces remain committed to non-escalation — provided it is respected by the Pakistani military,” the ministry added.

Earlier, during the press briefing on Operation Sindoor on May 7, India had termed its actions as "focused, measured, and non-escalatory", and clarified that no Pakistani military establishments had been targeted up to that point. However, the overnight escalation and civilian casualties appear to have prompted Thursday’s retaliatory action.