Pakistan denied it has a terrorist infrastructure, rebutting the basis for India’s early Wednesday morning attack on its northwestern adversary.
“Pakistan has been emphatically rejecting Indian allegations claiming the presence of terrorist camps on its territory,” Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a statement following a meeting of the country's National Security Committee.
His words follow India’s airstrikes against Pakistan, which included missile attacks against nine targets. “Operation Sindoor” came after New Delhi held Pakistan responsible for an Islamic terrorist attack last month that killed 26 Indian tourists. The Wednesday operation killed 26 people and injured 46, hitting “terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed,” according to India’s military.
Following the strikes, Indian Air Force Wing Cmdr. Vyomika Singh said the attacks "neutralized" targets that officials described as “terror camps” and not "military establishments.”
Pakistan’s NSC announced it has authorized the country’s military to respond to the “unprovoked and unjustified” attack with “corresponding actions.”
"Pakistan reserves the right to respond, in self-defence, at a time, place, and manner of its choosing to avenge the loss of innocent Pakistani lives and blatant violation of its sovereignty," it said in a statement Wednesday.
India said seven of the targets hit during Operation Sindoor were used by the Islamic terrorist groups Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed. New Delhi has accused Lashkar-e-Taiba of being affiliated with last month’s terrorist attack that killed nearly two dozen Indian tourists.
Masood Azhar, who leads Jaish-e-Mohammed, said 10 of his family members were killed during India’s strikes. Three of Azhar’s close aides were also killed, the group said, per NBC News.
INDIA LAUNCHES MISSILE ATTACK AGAINST PAKISTAN
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said following the strikes that he hopes the conflict "ends quickly."
“I am monitoring the situation between India and Pakistan closely. I echo @POTUS’s comments earlier today that this hopefully ends quickly and will continue to engage both Indian and Pakistani leadership towards a peaceful resolution,” Rubio said in a post on X.