Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], May 11 (ANI): Former Jammu and Kashmir (J-K) Director General of Police (DGP) SP Vaid on Sunday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a 'free hand' to the armed forces to retaliate against Pakistan's shelling and other misadventures.

He said that the Operation Sindoor, launched to combat terrorism, will continue to target terrorists.

'Operation Sindoor was started to fight against terrorism. The operation will be continued and we will hit wherever they (terrorists) hide...Operation Sindoor is on and this is a powerful message...A free hand has been given by PM Modi to the armed forces and to retaliate with full force,' former DGP Vaid told ANI.

More than 100 terrorists, including those involved in the 1999 Indian Airlines flight (IC-814) hijacking, and the 2019 Pulwama terror attack, were eliminated in the precision strikes carried out by the armed forces in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) under Operation Sindoor, Director General Military Operations (DGMO) Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai said on Sunday.

He added that Operation Sindoor was conceptualised with a precise military aim to 'punish the perpetrators and planners of the Pahalgam terror attack.'

'Operation Sindoor was conceptualised with a clear military aim to punish the perpetrators and planners of terror and to destroy their terror infrastructure. What I do not state here is the often stated determination of India and its intolerance to terror,' Ghai said in a press conference here.

The Indian strikes killed 'high-value targets', namely, Yusuf Azhar, Abdul Malik Rauf and Mudasir Ahmed, who were involved in the hijacking of IC 814, popularly known as the Kandahar hijack, and the Pulwama attack, where 40 CRPF jawans were killed in 2019.

'Those strikes across those nine terror hubs left more than 100 terrorists killed, including high-value targets such as Yusuf Azhar, Abdul Malik Rauf and Mudasir Ahmed, who were involved in the hijack of IC814 and the Pulwama blast,' the DGMO added.

Ghai also informed that the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy played a 'major part' in these strikes. (ANI)