India and Pakistan exchange fire after Jammu and Kashmir terror attack

The Indian military launched a series of air and missile strikes overnight against what it described as nine terrorist training camps inside Pakistan. The operations were in response to the April 22 terrorist attack in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir that killed 26 tourists. Pakistan has responded with artillery attacks along the Line of Control that divides the Indian- and Pakistani-controlled portions of the disputed Kashmir region.

The Indian military used missiles and warplanes to target nine terrorist training camps in Sialkot, Muridke, and Bahawalpur in Punjab province, and Muzaffarabad, Bagh, and Kolti in the Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir region. India claimed that the strikes killed 70 terrorists in camps operated by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), and Hizbul Mujahideen. Muridke is the home of the Markaz-e-Taiba, the sprawling terror complex run by Lashkar-e-Taiba.

All three terror groups are listed by the US government as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. These groups, and others, operate openly in Pakistan with the support of the Pakistani state. LeT, under the guise of the Resistance Front, launched the deadly April 22 attack near Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir that targeted Hindu tourists and killed 26 civilians. India claims it has direct evidence to link LeT to the Pahalgam attack.

The Embassy of India in Washington, DC, released a statement on the military action in Pakistan, describing the operation as “focused and precise.”

“They (India’s strikes in Pakistan) were measured, responsible and designed to be non-escalatory in nature,” India’s embassy stated. “No Pakistani civilian, economic or military targets have been hit. Only known terror camps were targeted.”

The Indian embassy also said that “Pakistan has indulged in denial and made allegations of false flag operations against India” and refused to act against LeT after the Pahalgam terror attack.

Pakistan denied that the Indian strikes targeted terror camps, instead claiming that most of the strikes hit mosques, and all of the individuals killed and wounded were civilians. Additionally, the Pakistani military claimed that it shot down five Indian warplanes—three Rafale fighters, a SU-30, and a MiG-29. The Indian military denied this claim, and Pakistan has not produced evidence of downed warplanes.

Clashes along the border

Immediately after India’s air and missile strikes, the militaries of both countries exchanged artillery fire along the Line of Control. There have been no reports of ground incursions by either country at this time.

Pakistan and India have been in similar situations after Pakistani terror groups launched attacks within Indian territory in the recent past. On September 29, 2016, Indian commandos raided terror camps in Pakistan-held Kashmir in retaliation for the September 17 attack by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed on an Indian Army base in Uri. Seventeen Indian soldiers were killed in the terrorist attack. The two countries exchanged fire, but the situation ultimately de-escalated.

However, India did not take military action against Pakistan after LeT suicide teams launched a three-day terror assault against numerous civilian targets in Mumbai in 2008, killing more than 170 people. Additionally, India did not respond militarily after LeT and JeM attacked the Indian Parliament in December 2001.

The most recent direct clashes risk a significant escalation between the two regional nuclear powers. However, Pakistan and India have previously de-escalated after coming to blows over Pakistani state-sponsored terrorism, ultimately standing down after a series of limited military exchanges, diplomatic disputes, and posturing.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD’s Long War Journal.