Student, Pakistan - The roof of the building dangerously sags, the sun peeks through a hole, while the ground below is full of debris, and the doors of the room are blown in by explosions.

This is India’s message to Pakistan, the result of a series of missile strikes launched in the early hours of May 7, retribution for the fatal attack on Kashmir Pahargam, which was managed in India on April 22, in which 26 people were killed. India accused Pakistan of attacks, but Islamabad denied any involvement.

India's strike against Muridke is part of Operation Sindoor, the most extensive air strike against Pakistan beyond the four wars fought by nuclear-weapon neighbors. This is especially important among all the sites targeted in India.

Muridke has long been considered the home of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET) armed group, and India and other countries have accused the group of deadly attacks on Indian soil, including the November 2008 attack in Mumbai.

But while Indian security officials and foreign minister Vikram Misri insisted on Wednesday that they had attacked the "terrorist infrastructure" and that Indian missiles hit only armed groups, Pakistan said 31 civilians, including at least two children, were killed.

In Muridke, a few hours after the missile strike, the low-hanging roof belongs to the administrative block of a large yard called the Government Health and Education Complex. The compound houses a hospital, two schools, a hotel and a large seminary where more than 3,000 students study in various institutions, including seminary. The courtyard also includes 80 residences, houses of about 300 people, most of which are government employees.

On Wednesday, the administrative block was hit and a mosque was also separated by a large balcony. Three men, aged between 20 and 30, and a portion of employees, died in the attack, and one of them was injured.

A rescue official at the site told Al Jazeera that he arrived within half an hour of the attack. "I was the one who found the first body," he said.

“We’ve prepared for this”

Muridke is only 250,000 people from Islamabad, only 250,000, four hours from Islamabad and about 30 km (18 miles) from Lahore, the capital of Punjab Province, bordering India.

Government official Tauseef Hasan told Al Jazeera that Muridke was the first spot hit by Indian missiles that night.

"A few minutes after midnight, I heard two huge booms, within two minutes. We were ready for it and I knew exactly what was going on," Hassan said in a factual tone.

Standing across the balcony is the mosque, Jamia Ummul Qurah, with a large prayer hall with part of the roof collapsed. There are two open holes in the ceiling that mark the place where the missile hits.

Hassan and his colleague Usman Jalees said Pakistani authorities assessed the risk of the attack on Muridke after the Pahargam attack two weeks ago, which India has long considered as Wright’s headquarters in light of rhetoric about towns and compounding.

Jales told Al Jazeera that he added: "We have learned that Muridek may be a target, which is why we directed the staff and residents of the compound to evacuate and leave the place."

On one side of the balcony, a large table shows the missile sheet that hit the building. The odor of explosives and residual heat remains stuck to the metal fragments.

Although both Hasan and Jalees insist that seminaries and educational institutions are completely controlled by the state, the origins of the compound tell a more complex story.

Education or armed?

The yard was founded in 1988 by Hafiz Saeed, founder of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (Jud), and the organization is widely regarded as Let's front. Jamia Dawa Islami, the seminary of the compound, was also named after the group.

India accused Saeed and planned several attacks on its territory, most notably the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed more than 160 people in a few days.

Abid Hussain, 51, a religious scholar, firmly denied Indians claiming that the area is a “training facility” or “the headquarters of any terrorists.”

"This compound has been a center for children's education for boys and girls. I've been teaching here and here for the past three decades," the chubby man with a fork beard.

Religious teachers continue to challenge the accusation that the area is used to train warriors.

“If we have reasons and facilities that can provide students with opportunities to learn to swim, ride or sport training, which means how is this training terrorists?” he asked.

The Pakistani government took over Jud's facilities in 2019, when the country faced pressure to suppress Saeed and Let's may be placed on a "grey list" of countries deemed insufficient to stop raising funds for banned armed groups.

“Sayed used to be a regular one”

Behind the mosque is a street where two houses have been completely destroyed. Solar panels and broken bricks are everywhere.

Recalling the night of the attack, resident Ali Zafar pointed out his residence behind one of the demolished buildings. He said the explosion could be heard at least seven kilometers (four miles) away, near which was the house of relatives who moved with his family.

"A few days ago, authorities told us to evacuate the place, so we moved outside the complex. It's certain that India will attack the area because their media keeps emphasizing Muridek."

Government official Hassan said the entire facility was subject to strict government oversight despite the seminary and school closures during the school year.

“Once the government took over as the institute’s government in 2019, we ensured that the curriculum and teaching were fully supervised,” he said.

Religious teacher Hussain added that Saeed has stopped entering the compound since the government took control.

"He used to be the regular season in the late 90s and early 2000s," he said.

Saeed, now in the late 1970s, was arrested in 2019 and is currently sentenced to 31 years in prison by a Pakistani court in 2022 in two "terrorist financing" cases. He has been sentenced to a separate 15-year prison sentence, which was sentenced on similar charges in 2020.