New Delhi, May 16 -- India resorted to a mix of precision strikes with drones targeting key Pakistani security and intelligence facilities and attacks with heavier long-range weapons such as the BrahMos cruise missile on terrorist and military infrastructure during Operation Sindoor, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday, adding that the purpose was twofold. The drone strikes carried out in the initial stage, particularly on May 8, that targeted important military installations were meant to signal the reach of the weaponry of the armed forces. The use of heavier weaponry, particularly the BrahMos missile, which has a range of about 450km for the air-launched version and about 800km for the land version, was meant to inflict greater damage on terrorist infrastructure and military facilities, the people said on condition of anonymity. Among the locations that were targeted with drones in the strikes on May 8 were the Pakistan Army's General Headquarters, the Strategic Plans Division (SPD) and a wing of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) dealing with Kashmir in Rawalpindi, the residence of the army's corps commander in Lahore in Punjab province, and a few locations within Malir cantonment in Karachi in Sindh province, the people said. To be sure, the drone strikes didn't cause widespread damage and were carried out more to demonstrate the reach of the weaponry of the armed forces, the people said. Several of these strikes - such as the ones in Rawalpindi on the army's General Headquarters, the Strategic Plans Division, and the Joint Intelligence-North wing of the ISI, which deals with Kashmir, and on the National Defence Complex (NDC) in Attock district, which builds transporter-erecter-launcher vehicles for missiles, saw the drones hitting the periphery of the complexes, the people said. According to reports in the Pakistani media, at least one person was killed in a drone strike near the cricket stadium in Rawalpindi, which is adjacent to the ISI facility, while another person was killed in a drone strike in Attock in the area where the NDC complex is located. The BrahMos missile was used in the strike on the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) complex at Bahawalpur in Punjab province on May 7, when India targeted terrorist infrastructure at nine locations in Pakistan and PoK, the people said. The JeM base was among the first few targets struck on May 7 and it was targeted with the "most potent weapons available" with India's armed forces, one of the people cited above said. The BrahMos missiles were also used to target eight Pakistani airbases, including the Nur Khan airbase in Rawalpindi and the Bholari airbase at Jamshoro district of Sindh province, the people said. The people declined to go into the details of these strikes but most of the information available in the open domain appeared to suggest that the air-launched version of the missile was used in these strikes. Experts who analysed a video that was posted on social media of the May 7 strikes on Bahawalpur also said that the impact appeared to have been caused by a powerful missile. India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 by targeting terrorist infrastructure at nine locations linked to groups such as the JeM, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Hizbul Mujahideen. This triggered four days of strikes and counter-strikes with drones, missiles and long-range weapons before the two sides reached an understanding on stopping firing and military actions on May 10....