On Tuesday, the Border Security Force (BSF) stated that India’s response to cross-border shelling from Pakistan was “loud and effective,” and that they had planned to strike terrorist launchpads near the Line of Control on the night of May 9 and 10.
During a press conference, BSF IG Shashank Anand, Jammu Frontier, highlighted that Pakistani posts initiated fire on Indian positions, but the BSF was prepared. “As a result of this preparedness, we inflicted heavy damage on several Pakistani posts during the cross-border firing. We did not suffer any losses ourselves,” Anand said.
Anand further elaborated that the operation on the night of May 8 visibly shook the enemy’s morale. Consequently, on May 9, Pakistan began unprovoked cross-border firing along the international border in the northern areas of Jammu, shifting away from the Samba region. The BSF, already anticipating such a situation, launched heavy shelling on Pakistan’s border belt on May 9 and 10. During this period, Anand stated, “we had planned that if the opportunity arose, we would also strike the terrorist launch pads located near the international border.”
He confirmed that the BSF carried out a “deliberate” attack on a Lashkar-e-Taiba launchpad in the Looni area, located just 3 kilometers from the international border in Pakistan, on the night of May 9 and 10.
Virender Dutta, DIG Sector Sundarbani, added that intelligence indicated the presence of 18-20 militants in the Looni area, who intended to infiltrate by exploiting the cross-border firing. “Their intention was likely to target our installations later,” Dutta explained. He affirmed that the BSF executed a “highly coordinated and well-planned operation in two phases to inflict maximum casualties,” successfully achieving their goal and completely destroying the Looni launchpad.
