A mortar today is usually a simple, lightweight, man-portable, muzzle-loaded cannon consisting of a smooth-bore (although some models use a rifled barrel) metal tube fixed to a base plate (to spread out the recoil) with a lightweight bipod mount and a sight. Mortars are typically used as indirect fire weapons for close fire support with a variety of ammunition. Historically, mortars were heavy siege artillery. Mortars launch explosive shells (technically called bombs) in high arching ballistic trajectories.
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Mortar shells in the context of 2025 India–Pakistan conflict
The 2025 India–Pakistan conflict was a brief armed conflict between India and Pakistan that began on 7 May 2025, after India launched missile strikes on Pakistan, in a military campaign codenamed Operation Sindoor. India said that the operation was in response to the Pahalgam terrorist attack in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir on 22 April 2025 in which 26 civilians were killed. India accused Pakistan of supporting cross-border terrorism, which Pakistan denied.
On 7 May, India launched Operation Sindoor with missile strikes on terrorism-related infrastructure facilities of Pakistan-based militant groups Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir, and said that no Pakistani military or civilian facilities were targeted. According to Pakistan, the Indian strikes hit civilian areas, including mosques, and resulted in civilian casualties. Following these strikes, there were border skirmishes and drone strikes between the two countries. Pakistan's army retaliated on 7 May, by launching a blitz of mortar shells on Jammu, particularly Poonch, killing civilians, and damaging homes and religious sites. This conflict marked the first drone battle between the two nuclear-armed nations.
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