Satellite imagery reveals extensive damage, efficacy of strikes

Latest satellite imagery has revealed extensive damage to terrorist camps located in different parts of Pakistan that were targeted by India on May 7 in retribution to the Pahalgam terror attack.

Under Operation Sindoor, Indian Air Force aircraft carried out 21 precision strikes at nine places in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK), the success of which is now evident.

The strikes targeted key strongholds of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

“Post-strike damage assessment shows extensive destruction at Bahawalpur and Muridke, both in Pakistan’s Punjab,” Col Vinayak Bhat (retd), an imagery interpretation expert, told The Tribune.

“The mosque in Bahawalpur, which had underground hideouts as had been seen in historical images, was destroyed. The exact housing units known to be occupied by members of these terrorist outfits were targeted and gutted to the ground,” he added.

Image analysis shows that at JeM’s Markaz Subhan Allah centre in Bahawalpur, three domes of a large mosque were hit and some structures located in an area of 2,100 sq m were reduced to rubble. A building at LeT headquarters, named Markaz Taiba in Muridke, also suffered heavy damage.

According to an Air Force officer, the images clearly establish the precision strike capability that has been acquired by the IAF. These also prove, as claimed by India, there has been no collateral damage.

In the wake of the Pahalgam massacre, various options for carrying out retaliation were explored and the targets for retribution were identified using intelligence developed from various sources, including satellite imagery and signal intercepts.

The less than half-an-hour long Operation Sindoor targeted facilities linked to LeT and JeM. Muridke, near Lahore, is known to be LeT’s headquarters, while Bahawalpur is said to be JeM’s operational hub. Other places associated with anti-India activities were Muzaffarabad, Kotli, Gulpur, Bhimber, Bagh, Chak Amru and Sialkot.

Notably, five of the nine places hit were outside the disputed PoK, which had witnessed punitive Indian action following terrorist attacks on an Army camp in Uri in 2016 and a suicide attack on a CRPF bus that killed 40 personnel.