The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Sunday released a video offering a rare glimpse of its strikes on terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) during Operation Sindoor, a mission launched in May to avenge the deadly Pahalgam attack.
The five-minute clip, posted on X, opens with newspaper clippings on the 22 April Pahalgam tragedy, in which 26 civilians were killed. It then shifts to visuals of Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairing a high-level meeting with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan, and the chiefs of the three armed forces.
A black screen appears with the words “Operation Sindoor” and “IAF responded with precision, speed, resolve”, followed by footage of Indian fighter jets carrying out aerial strikes on terror hideouts in Pakistan and PoK. Several images and clips highlight the “decimated” camps.
Last Saturday, Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh revealed that the IAF shot down five Pakistani fighter jets and a large aircraft during the operation.
“We have an indication of at least one AWC in that hangar, and a few F-16s under maintenance there. We have at least five fighters confirmed destroyed and one large aircraft — possibly an AWC — taken down from about 300 kilometres away. This is the largest ever recorded surface-to-air kill we can talk about,” he said at an event in Bengaluru.
The video also revisits the IAF’s past operations, featuring scenes from the 1971 war with Pakistan, the Kargil conflict, and the 2019 Balakot airstrikes after the Pulwama attack. A voiceover declares: “When the skies grow dark and danger looms across land or sea, there’s one force that rises. Vast, fearless and precise. The Indian Air Force.”
Operation Sindoor began on 7 May after investigators found cross-border links to the Pahalgam attack. Indian forces targeted multiple terror camps, killing over 100 militants. Pakistan retaliated with a large-scale missile and drone barrage, which India intercepted before striking Pakistani airfields in response. The hostilities ended with a ceasefire on 10 May.