Mumbai: The domestic equity markets plunged on Thursday afternoon following the news of surgical strikes by the Indian Army across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu & Kashmir.

Both the key indices, BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty, plummeted by over one per cent in a kneejerk reaction to Indian Army's claim that they conducted some surgical strike on Pakistani terror bases. Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, Director General of Military Operation, said it carried out surgical strikes in an overnight operation on Wednesday.

All the 19 sub-indices of the BSE were trading in the red. The market barometer 30-scrip Sensex tanked over 500 points at 12:35pm as the news spread in the market that Indian Army attacked Pak terrorists camps across LoC. However, Immediately recovered marginally and trading 293.24 points or 1.04 percent lower at 27,999.57 points at 1:25pm. The wider Nifty edged down 104.15 points or 1.19 per cent, to 8,641.15 points.

Meanwhile, the India VIX index, a gauge for market volatility, surged nearly 25 per cent, most this year.

Opened at 28,423.14 points, Sensex tanks 552 points at 12:35pm and marginally rebounded. The BSE market breadth fell prey to the bears with 1,524 declines and 915 advances. In the early trade, Sensex was trading at 28,441.25, up nearly 150 points as global markets surged gaining support from a surprise outcome of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meet.