section_path: Timeline/7 May
section_name: 7 May
paragraph_text: 7 May
  
  On 7 May 2025, India announced that it had launched missile and air strikes, codenamed Operation Sindoor, targeting nine sites across Pakistani-administered Azad Kashmir and Pakistan's Punjab province. The targets in Pakistan-administered Kashmir were targeted by Indian Army's artillery regiment using precision long-range Excalibur rounds and loitering munitions, while the Indian Air Force provided air defence. The Israeli press mentioned Indo-Israeli SkyStriker loitering munitions. The attacks on targets in Pakistani Punjab were carried out by the Indian Air Force. According to sources cited by India Today, Rafale jets were employed, equipped with SCALP missiles and AASM Hammer bombs. According to a working paper written by Christopher Clary for Stimson Center, BrahMos cruise missiles might have also been used.
  
  The Indian government described the strikes as "focused, measured, and non-escalatory". Indian military spokespeople said that the missile strikes targeted infrastructure linked to the terrorist groups Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Hizbul Mujahideen (HuM), and that no Pakistani military facilities were targeted, with the locations selected to avoid damage to civilian infrastructure. The missile strikes targeted locations including Subhan Allah Mosque in Bahawalpur (near Ahmedpur East) and Markaz-e-Taiba in Muridke, part of the headquarters of JeM and the headquarters of LeT respectively and alleged by India to be their terrorist training camps. Other sites claimed to have been targetted by India included Abbas Mosque (associated with the JeM) in Kotli District, Shawai Nala camp (associated with the LeT) and Syedna Bilal Mosque (associated with the JeM) in Muzaffarabad, a site in Gulpur, Kotli District (alleged by the Indian government to be a LeT and HuM camp); Markaz Ahl-e-Hadith in Barnala, Bhimber District (alleged by the Indian government to be associated with the LeT); a site in Mehmona Joya, Kotli Loharan West, Sialkot District (alleged by the Indian government to be a HuM camp); and a site in Tera Katlan in Sarjal, Shakargarh Tehsil, Sialkot District (alleged by the Indian government to be a JeM camp). India later showed satellite images purportedly showing damage at the targetted sites.
  
  According to a Pakistani security source, approximately 125 Indian and Pakistani fighter jets engaged in the aerial dogfight after the Indian air strikes on 7 May, exchanging long-range missile fire in a confrontation that lasted over an hour. According to The Daily Telegraph, neither Pakistani nor Indian aircraft crossed the border, engaging instead in a "stand-off" conflict at a distance of more than 100km at times. Pakistan claimed that during the dogfight it had downed five Indian aircraft including three Rafales, one MiG-29, one SU-30MKI and a Heron unmanned aerial vehicle. On 15 May, Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif claimed that Pakistan shot down six Indian fighter jets, the sixth being a Mirage 2000. On 28 May, he again said that six Indian fighter jets were downed but said that four of these were Rafale, one MiG-29 and one "another plane". On 6 June, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) said that No. 15 Squadron, also known as the Cobras, was responsible for shooting down six Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter jets. Operating out of PAF Base Minhas in Kamra with J-10C multirole fighters equipped with PL-15 beyond-visual-range missiles, the squadron claimed to have downed three Rafales, a MiG-29, a Mirage-2000, and a Su-30MKI. According to Dawn, the Cobras deployed 18 out of the 20 aircraft assigned to the squadron for the intercept operation on 7 May.
  
  A French intelligence official told CNN that an Indian Rafale was downed by Pakistan, though the French military did not comment. According to a working paper written by Christopher Clary for Stimson Center, there was credible evidence that up to four Indian aircraft may indeed have been shot down during the encounter. Reuters reported that unnamed Indian government sources said that three fighter jets had crashed in India due to unknown causes. On 8 May, an unnamed US official told Reuters that he assessed with "high confidence" that Pakistani J-10 aircraft had shot down at least two Indian fighter jets; a second official assessed one of the downed jets to be a Dassault Rafale. The Washington Post later said that it had identified 3 crash sites in India from 7 May, identifying two of them as belonging to an Indian Dassault Rafale and Dassault Mirage 2000. On 9 May, local government sources in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir told Reuters that three fighter jets crashed in India on 7 May with three pilots being hospitalized. On 11 May, while responding to a question on whether the force suffered losses, the Indian Airforce said that "losses are a part of combat" but declined to provide information on whether any losses had occurred.
  
  Pakistan confirmed strikes on six of the sites targetted by India, denying the strikes at Barnala and Gulpur in Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir, but said these were civilian areas including mosques and residential areas and were not terrorist facilities. The Pakistani government condemned them as an "act of war" that resulted in civilian casualties. Shehbaz Sharif convened a meeting of the National Security Council to coordinate retaliatory strikes. The NSC declared that Pakistan "reserves the right to respond, in self-defence, at a time, place, and manner of its choosing." Sharif gave the Pakistani army, under Asim Munir, the right to respond in any way needed.
  
  According to India, Pakistani cross-border artillery shelling and small arms firing increased following the Indian attacks, including in the regions of Poonch, Rajouri, Kupwara, Baramulla, Uri and Akhnoor, located in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistani shelling of Poonch town and its vicinity killed at least 11 people and damaged an Islamic school along with numerous homes. According to The News Minute, the casualties included a Sikh ragi. Pakistan said that the Neelum–Jhelum Hydropower Plant had been damaged by Indian shelling following the initial Indian strikes.