Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], May 27 (ANI): Stressing that India's response to the cross-border shelling from Pakistan was answered loudly and in an effective manner, the Border Security Force (BSF) on Tuesday reiterated that they were planned to also strike the terrorists launchpads near the Line of Control on the night of May 9 and 10.

Addrressing a press conference, Shashank Anand (BSF IG), Jammu Frontier emphasized that the Pakistani post opened fire on India's positions, for which it was already 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.

'On the night of May 8, when we carried out this operation, the enemy's morale in that area was visibly shaken. The next day, i.e., on May 9, Pakistan began unprovoked cross-border firing along the international border in the northern areas of Jammu, moving away from the Samba region. The BSF was already prepared for such a situation, and on May 9 and 10, the BSF launched heavy shelling on Pakistan's border belt. During this period, we had planned that if the opportunity arose, we would also strike the terrorist launch pads located near the international border,' he said.

He further said that the BSF carried out a 'deliberate' attack on a Lashkar-e-Taiba launch pad in Looni area near the LoC.

'As part of this operation, on the night of May 9 and 10, the BSF carried out a deliberate and planned attack on a Lashkar-e-Taiba launchpad in 'Looni', which is located in Pakistan just 3 kilometers from the international border,' Shashank Anand said.

Virender Dutta, DIG Sector Sundarbani, said that they had an input of the presence of 18-20 militants in Looni area who were planning to infiltrate by taking the advantage of cross-border firing.

'After May 8, we received intelligence that 18-20 militants were present in Looni, and it was expected that they would attempt to infiltrate by taking advantage of the cross-border firing. Their intention was likely to target our installations later. We executed a highly coordinated and well-planned operation in two phases to inflict maximum casualties. We achieved that goal, and Looni was completely destroyed,' Dutta said.

Operation Sindoor was India's decisive military response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. Launched on May 7, Operation Sindoor led to the death of over 100 terrorists affiliated with terror outfits like the Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Hizbul Mujahideen.

After the attack, Pakistan retaliated with cross-border shelling across the Line of Control and Jammu and Kashmir as well as attempted drone attacks along the border regions, following which India launched a coordinated attack and damaged radar infrastructure, communication centres, and airfields across 11 airbases in Pakistan.

After this, on May 10, an understanding of the cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan was announced. (ANI)