Pakistan’s HQ-9 air defence system has suffered heavy damage, claim sources
India has neutralised the air defence system in Lahore after Pakistan tried to strike a number of Indian military establishment in northern and western India on the intervening night of May 7-8. the Defence Minisrty said on Thursday.
“On the night of 07-08 May 2025, Pakistan attempted to engage a number of military targets in Northern and Western India including Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Pathankot, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Adampur, Bhatinda, Chandigarh, Nal, Phalodi, Uttarlai, and Bhuj, using drones and missiles. These were neutralised by the Integrated Counter UAS Grid and Air Defence systems. The debris of these attacks is now being recovered from a number of locations that prove the Pakistani attacks,” the ministry said in a release.
The HQ-9 is a long-range surface-to-air missile system of Chinese origin and is regarded as a crucial component of Pakistan’s multi-layered air defence network.
On Thursday morning, the Indian Armed Forces targeted Air Defence Radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan.
“Indian response has been in the same domain with same intensity as Pakistan. It has been reliably learnt that an Air Defence system at Lahore has been neutralised. Pakistan has increased the intensity of its unprovoked firing across the Line of Control using Mortars and heavy calibre Artillery in areas in Kupwara, Baramulla, Uri, Poonch, Mendhar and Rajouri sectors in Jammu and Kashmir,” the release added.
Sixteen innocent lives have been lost, including three women and five children, due to Pakistani firing. Here too, India was compelled to respond to bring Mortar and Artillery fire from Pakistan to a halt.
Indian Armed Forces reiterate their commitment to non-escalation, provided it is respected by the Pakistani military, the ministry said.
India’s offensive against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism
This follows a series of precision strikes carried out early Wednesday by the Indian armed forces, which destroyed nine terror sites belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The operation, lasting 25 minutes, was described as a “measured and non-escalatory” mission involving deep strike missiles.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri stated that India undertook the “proportionate” military action to bring justice to those responsible for the Pahalgam attack, citing the absence of any concrete steps by Pakistan to dismantle terrorist infrastructure on territory under its control. This marked the first time since the 1971 Indo-Pak war that India launched an aerial strike deep within Pakistan’s Punjab province.
Fifteen days after the Pahalgam massacre on 22 April, India initiated its military response under the codename ‘Operation Sindoor’. One of the key targets was the Jaish-e-Mohammad stronghold in Bahawalpur, located more than 100 kilometres from the Indian border. JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar later confirmed that ten members of his family and four close aides were killed in the missile strike.
