ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has targeted several Indian military sites and destroyed an S-400 missile defense system as part of ‘Operation Bunyan-un-Marsoos,’ Pakistani military sources said on Saturday, after India reportedly fired missiles on three of its air bases.
Pakistani military spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said India targeted Nur Khan, Shorkot and Murid air bases, adding that Pakistani air defense system had intercepted a majority of missiles and the few, which had sneaked in, did not cause any damage to Pakistan Air Force assets.
The two countries have been engaged in daily clashes since Wednesday, when India launched missile strikes inside Pakistan on what it called “terrorist infrastructure” over an attack in the disputed Kashmir region. It was difficult to independently verify the claims made by both sides.
“Brahmos storage site has been taken out in general area Bias. Attacks on various other places [in India] in progress. Pathan Kot Airfield, Udhampur Airforce Station hit,” a Pakistani military source said early Saturday.
“All those air bases wherefrom Pakistan was attacked are being attacked simultaneously.”
This screengrab, taken from a handout video released by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on May 10, 2025, shows the launch site of missiles fired at India. (Photo courtesy: Handout/Screengrab)
The Nur Khan air base in Rawalpindi, where the military has its headquarters, is around 10 kilometers from the capital, Islamabad.
“Now you just wait for our response,” Chaudhry, the Pakistani military spokesman, said in televised remarks prior to Pakistan’s retaliatory attacks.
The Indian army said “multiple enemy drones were spotted flying over” a military cantonment in Amritsar in Punjab, a state adjoining India-administered Kashmir, and were “instantly engaged and destroyed by our air defense units.”
“Pakistan’s blatant escalation with drone strikes and other munitions continues along our western border,” it said on X.
Another Pakistani military source said “70 percent electricity grid of India has been made dysfunctional” through a cyberattack, a day after Pakistan’s economic affairs ministry’s X account was hacked and a post was published on it appealing to international partners for more loans.
The attack targeted websites, including those of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India, Crime Research Investigation Agency, Mahanagar Telecommunication Company Limited, Bharat Earth Movers Limited, and the All India Naval Technical Supervisory Staff Association. There was no immediate comment from New Delhi in this regard.
Tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors escalated this week as they both accused each other of violating airspaces by sending drones and other munitions, killing at least 48 people on both sides. The latest conflict was sparked by an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Pahalgam resort town that killed 26 tourists on April 22.
New Delhi blamed the attack on Pakistan, Islamabad denies it and calls for a credible, international probe into the assault.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called a meeting of the National Command Authority on Saturday, Pakistani state media reported. The top body of civilian and military officials takes security decisions, including those related to the country’s nuclear arsenal.
Security personnel cordon off a road near Nur Khan military airbase after Indian strikes in Rawalpindi on May 10, 2025. (AFP)
Pakistan and India have a history of bitter relations. They have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, a region split between them, since gaining independence from the former British colonial rule in 1947.
The ongoing conflict alarmed the world powers, including China, US and the United Kingdom who all have urged restraint.
United States (US) Secretary of State Marco Rubio has spoken with Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir and urged both parties to find ways to deescalate and “offered US assistance in starting constructive talks in order to avoid future conflicts,” the State Department said.
The Group of Seven countries on Friday urged maximum restraint from both India and Pakistan and called on them to engage in direct dialogue. The United Kingdom’s High Commissioner to Pakistan, Jane Marriott, said on X they were monitoring the developments closely.
