Lahore : A series of massive explosions shook Pakistan’s Lahore city early Wednesday morning following a suspected missile strike, triggering panic among residents and prompting the immediate closure of Lahore Airport.
Eyewitnesses reported hearing loud blasts near the city’s old airport area, with shockwaves felt across multiple neighborhoods. The visuals shared on social media show buildings severely damaged and thick plumes of smoke rising into the sky.
According to preliminary reports, the explosions were a result of missile attacks that targeted locations suspected to be terror infrastructure. In response to the blasts, Pakistan shut down airspace over Lahore and Sialkot until Thursday afternoon, affecting several domestic and international flights. Thousands of passengers have been stranded, and emergency response teams have been deployed across the affected zones.
This latest escalation follows India’s “Operation Sindoor” – a high-precision military offensive carried out in retaliation for the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, where 26 Indian tourists were killed. The Indian Armed Forces targeted terror camps linked to Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and Hizbul Mujahideen located across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
During the strike, missile and drone attacks were reported in key locations including Lahore, Muridke, and Bahawalpur. The LeT headquarters near Muridke sustained visible damage, including to a nearby mosque, while in Bahawalpur, explosions were reported near a former JeM compound. Initial reports indicate at least 31 civilian casualties, with dozens more injured. Official confirmation is still awaited.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in a televised address, condemned the attack as “an act of war” and authorized the country’s military to carry out “a retaliatory response at a time and place of its choosing.” Heightened military alert has been declared along the Line of Control (LoC), and reports of cross-border shelling have emerged from the Poonch
In a statement issued late Wednesday, the Indian Ministry of Defence clarified that the strikes were “focused, measured, and non-escalatory,” targeting only terror infrastructure and avoiding Pakistani military installations. The Indian Air Force also denied Pakistan’s claims of having shot down any Indian aircraft.
The United Nations, the United States, China, and Russia have all expressed deep concern over the rapidly escalating situation, urging both nuclear-armed nations to exercise restraint. With two full-scale wars and numerous border skirmishes in their history, the current spike in hostilities has renewed fears of a larger conflict in South Asia.
NATO has reportedly been briefed, and international flights over northern India and Pakistan are now being rerouted as a precautionary measure. Diplomats in Islamabad and New Delhi are on high alert, and backchannel communications have reportedly been initiated to prevent further escalation.
