 "A damaged runway at Rahim Yar Khan air base in Southern Punjab, Pakistan. Reuters")
It’s been two weeks since India launched military strikes at Pakistan’s terror infrastructure, codenamed Operation Sindoor. In the following days, the two nuclear-armed nations reached the brink of war and then pulled back with a ceasefire last Saturday (May 10).
Amid these heightened tensions, India struck over a dozen military bases across Pakistan, causing significant damage. India’s strikes have also caused loss of human lives across the border — over 50 were killed.
Now, as we settle into an uneasy calm with the neighbouring country, we take a closer look at just how effective was Operation Sindoor and the true impact it had on Pakistan’s military infrastructure.
India’s hard-hitting strikes on Pakistan’s airbases
A day after India carried out precise and coordinated strikes on terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Islamabad made desperate attempts to hit military infrastructure and civilian areas in several Indian states with missiles and drones.
The Indian military thwarted these attempts, and, in turn, targeted Pakistan’s air defences at several locations — such as the Nur Khan base in Rawalpindi, Sukkur base in Sindh, Rahim Yar Khan in Pakistan’s Punjab, the air base in Sargodha’s Mushaf, Shahbaz Jacobabad in northern Sindh, and Bholari in northern Thatta.
India’s huge body blow to Pakistan air force
Now, as the dust settles, the Indian military is revealing the true extent of the strikes and the losses they have extracted from the neighbouring nation.
Very high-resolution satellite images reveal the extensive damage on the air bases in Sukkur (Sindh), Nur Khan (Rawalpindi), Rahim Yar Khan (southern Punjab), Mushaf in Sargodha, Jacobabad (northern Sindh), and Bholari (northern Thatta district), showing the impact of precision strikes carried out by the armed forces.
The images show that the Indian airstrikes left large craters on runways and damaged aircraft hangars and administrative and store buildings at key military bases in Pakistan.
At Sukkur, a satellite image shows one of the two aircraft shelters completely damaged at this base. At the Rahim Yar Khan base, the Indian strikes have created a massive crater of around 19 feet in radius on the runway.
The situation is no different at the Mushaf air base. Satellite imagery reveals that India’s missiles strikes left two large craters on the runway, with one measuring around 15 feet in radius, rendering it non-operational. Damage to some transport vehicles can also be seen.
This is in line with what Colonel Sofiya Qureshi had said at an earlier press briefing. Speaking on inflicting damage to Pakistan, she said, “Pakistan’s air defence systems and radar systems were neutralised, and its airspace was made untenable. Along the Line of Control, Pakistan’s command and control, logistics installations, and military infrastructure suffered such heavy losses that their offensive and defensive capabilities were completely crippled.”
Top government officials have also now revealed that the strikes by New Delhi destroyed 20 per cent of Pakistan’s air force assets. “On May 9-10, India became the first country to strike 11 airbases of a nuclear-armed nation in a single operation, destroying 20 per cent of Pakistan’s air force assets. High casualties were inflicted at Bholari airbase, including the death of Squadron Leader Usman Yusuf and destruction of key fighter jets,” sources were quoted as telling News18.
The strikes also damaged Pakistan’s fighter jets, including the high-tech JF-17 fighter.
Pakistan counts its dead
Besides the huge physical blow, India’s Operation Sindoor also claimed the lives of several Pakistan military personnel.
Sources say that over 50 individuals, including Squadron Leader Usman Yusuf and four airmen, were killed in the strike on the Bholari air base in Jamshoro district of Sindh. Pakistan, too, has confirmed the loss of lives — it stated that 11 military service personnel died while 78 personnel from the Pakistan army and the air force had been wounded during the four-day escalation.
In addition to the military casualties, Pakistan claimed that 40 civilians, including seven women and 15 children, lost their lives due to shelling by the Indian Army across the Line of Control. According to the Pakistani statement, 121 others, including 27 children and 10 women, were injured. However, India has vehemently maintained that its armed forces operated with precision to avoid civilian casualties.
As one source told Hindustan Times, “We smashed the terror infrastructure there, hit their air defences and targeted several of their airbases. The Indian forces had a good run during the last four days. Pakistan’s counter-offensive was mostly thwarted.”
Operation Sindoor takes out Pak terror infra
India’s Operation Sindoor also wreaked havoc on terror camps in Pakistan and PoK — it struck multiple terror bases, including the Jaish-e-Mohammed’s (JeM) headquarters in Bahawalpur and the Lashkar-e-Taiba’s ‘terror nursery’ in Muridke where 26/11 attack plotter Ajmal Kasab receiving training.
India’s Director General of Military Operations Lt Gen Rajeev Ghai said more than 100 terrorists, including those linked to the 1999 Indian Airlines IC-814 hijacking and the 2019 Pulwama terror attack, were killed in precision strikes.
Among those killed were high-value targets such as Yusuf Azhar, Abdul Malik Rauf, and Mudasir Ahmed. According to officials, these individuals were directly involved in the hijacking of IC-814 and the Pulwama suicide bombing that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also said that India’s strikes had taken out over 100 terrorists, adding, “India struck at the heart of Pakistan. India’s drones and missiles attacked with precision. They damaged those airbases of the Pakistani air force, of which Pakistan was very proud. India caused heavy damage to Pakistan in the first three days itself, which it had never imagined.”
Speaking to the nation from the Adampur airbase in Punjab, the PM added that India has “shown the Pakistani military that there is no place left in Pakistan where terrorists can sit and breathe in peace.”
He said, “Hum ghar mein ghuskar marenge aur bachane ka ek mauka tak nahi denge. (We will enter their homes and strike, and we won’t even give them a chance to escape.)”
The PM also reiterated that Operation Sindoor is the new normal when it comes to India’s terror doctrine. “India’s ‘Laxman Rekha’ against terrorism is crystal clear now. If another terror attack occurs now, India will give a reply — a solid reply. We saw this during surgical strike, during air strike. Now, Operation Sindoor is India’s new normal,” said PM Modi.
With inputs from agencies