"Hope It Ends Quickly": Trump As India Strikes Terror Bases In Pak

Reacting to India conducting precision strikes on terrorist bases in Pakistan in response to last month's attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam, US President Donald Trump has said the US knew something was going to happen and that he hoped "it ends very quickly". 

Responding to a question at a press conference, Mr Trump said, "We just heard about it as we were walking in the doors of the Oval. I guess we knew something was going to happen based on a little bit of the past."

Making a faux pas in an apparent reference to India and Pakistan, the US president added, "They have been fighting for many many decades, and centuries when you think about it. Nah, I just hope it ends very quickly."

In the early hours of Wednesday, India said it has launched 'Operation Sindoor', targeting nine terrorist infrastructure sites in Pakistan, including in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The defence ministry described the strikes as a "precise and restrained response" to the barbaric Pahalgam terror attack and stressed that no Pakistani military facilities were hit, reflecting India's "calibrated and non-escalatory approach". 

Emphasising the retaliatory nature of the strikes, the ministry said, "This operation underscores India's resolve to hold perpetrators accountable while avoiding unnecessary provocation."

The Pakistan army confirmed that bases were struck in Kotli and Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Muridke and Bahawalpur in Pakistan Punjab. The sites are significant because Muridke is the headquarters of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is believed to be behind the Pahalgam attack, and Bahawalpur is the base of the Masood Azhar-led Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said attacks were carried out in five locations and that the country "retains the right to respond forcefully". The country also kept up its ceasefire violations, which have been going on for over 10 days now, and opened artillery fire along the Line of Control in the Bhimber Gali area of the Poonch-Rajauri sector. 

The strikes come on a day when civil defence mock drills will be carried out across India - for the first  time since 1971 - and the Indian Air Force will hold large-scale military drills in Rajasthan, along the International Border in Pakistan. 

PM's Warning

This is the third time India has responded forcefully to terror attacks by Pakistan-backed terror groups. After the attack on an Army outpost in Uri in 2016, Indian forces had crossed the Line of Control and struck terror launchpads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Three years later, Air Force planes had hit terror bases in Balakot after the Pulwama terror attack, in which 40 CRPF personnel had been killed. 

After the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people, most of whom were tourists, were killed, PM Modi had warned that India would go after terrorists and their backers. He had also given the Army, Navy and Air Force the freedom to decide on the "mode, timing and targets" as part of India's response.