Pakistan Blasts: Pakistani army has claimed that loud explosions have been reported from across nine cities as 12 Heron drones targeted nine cities. Pakistan’s DG ISPR Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif claimed the locations targeted by the drones are Lahore, Rawalpindi, Gujaranwala, Rawalpindi, Chakwal, Attock, Bahawalpur, Miano, Chhor, and Karachi. Pakistani army claimed to have neutralised these drones as nine blasts have been reported so far.

Earlier, a blast was reported at Sharafi Goth in Karachi, confirmed by SSP Malir, according to Samaa TV. According to reports, a serial blast have been reported in Karachi and the police teams are present at the site. 

DG ISPR Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif made wild claims saying that 12 Heron drones targeted nine locations and blamed India for the attack. Defence experts told Zee News that it’s an ‘False Flag’ operation attempt by the Pakistani army to build anti-India narrative. The experts said that it is a part of information warfare & propaganda by Pakistan army to use it as a justification to launch an attack against India. Notably, the Heron drones are surveillance drones and not attack drones as claimed by Pakistan as a propaganda.

According to reports, the blasts were done using attack drones. Locals have been asked to stay indoors while security forces have cordoned-off the area. Police have recovered metal fragments from the scene, and the exact nature of the blast is currently under investigation. Rescue and law enforcement personnel have arrived at the site and are conducting a thorough assessment. This comes hours after three blasts were reported from Lahore’s Walton airport area. 

Pakistan has shut its airspace and flight operations have been affected, leaving people stranded at different airports. 

S. Soundarapandian, orthopaedist and founder of Soundarapandian Bone and Joint Hospital in Anna Nagar, passed away in Chennai on Wednesday. He was 94.  He is survived by wife Kothai, two sons and a daughter.

His sons, Sivamurugan and Ravisubramaniam, are also orthopaedists. The funeral will be held at 9 a.m. on Thursday.

Dr. Soundarapandian used to treat patients till 2020. It was only during the COVID-19 pandemic that he stopped seeing patients, Mohan Rajan, chairman and medical director of Rajan Eye Care Hospital, said. “He [Dr. Soundarapandian] was instrumental in developing the Institute of Orthopaedics in the Government General Hospital [RGGGH]. In the 1970s and 1980s there were no private hospitals and all the ortho cases would come only to GH. The RGGGH is one of the gold standard institutions that performed complicated surgeries,” he added.  

Dr. Soundarapandian was born in Thoothukudi on July 4, 1931, and completed his MBBS degree from the Stanley Medical College and MS General Surgery and MS Orthopeadics from the Madras Medical College (MMC).  He went on a commonwealth fellowship programme at Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford.

He worked at the MMC as a professor of orthopaedics and eventually headed the department, teaching for over 30 years. He founded the Soundarapandian Bone and Joint Hospital in Anna Nagar in 1982.

Dr. Mohan Rajan described him as a “doyen of orthopaedic surgery. Our teacher, mentor…,who enriched and inspired us all with his vast knowledge and experience in the field of orthopaedics”.

NEW DELHI: Fresh satellite images released on Thursday revealed the scale of destruction caused after Indian Army carried out precision strikes at 9 terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, under ‘Operation Sindoor’.

The comparative satellite images, released by Maxar Technologies, showed substantial structural damage across critical locations, specifically targeting the Jamia Mosque in Bahawalpur and within Muridke city in Pakistan.

The complex, spread across 82 acres, was the ‘alma mater’ and the most important training centre of LeT located in Nangal Sahdan, Muridke, Sheikhupura, Punjab, Pakistan.Similarly, Jamia Mosque in Bahawalpur indicates evident destruction, with imagery analysis between pre-strike conditions and subsequent post-strike visuals.

Markaz Subhan Allah was located at NH-5 (Karachi-Torkham Highway) on the outskirts of Bahawalpur at Karachi Mor in Bahawalpur district of Pakistan’s Punjab province. This was the main centre of Jaish-e-Mohammed for training and indoctrination of youth which is spread over a 15-acre area.The Indian Army conducted targeted strikes, eliminating nine terrorist bases belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Hizbul Mujahideen during ‘Operation Sindoor’ across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir.The Indian Air Force executed precise attacks on four sites within Pakistan’s borders, whilst five locations were targeted in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir. The Centre affirmed that the operation was “focused, measured and non-escalatory” and deliberately steered clear of Pakistani military installations.The tri-services ‘Operation Sindoor’, conducted jointly by the Army, Navy, and the Air Force, was carried out from Indian soil. The Defence Ministry said Operation Sindoor was “focused, measured and non-escalatory” and avoided any Pakistani military facilities.The government said that it exercised its right to neutralise terrorists and their infrastructure following the Phalgam terror attack in Jammu in Kashmir which claimed 26 lives.During the press briefing, foreign secretary Vikram Misri said Pahalgam terrorist attack has exposed the links of Pakistan with terrorists.“As you all know, on April 22, Pakistani and Pakistan-trained terrorist, associated with Lashkar-e-Taiba, launched a barbaric attack on tourists in Pahalgam. 25 Indians, and one Nepali citizen were cowardly murdered. This is the most serious incident since 2008 Mumbai attack considering that fact the civilians were attacked,” Misri said.