Loitering munition may have hit Pakistan’s Kirana Hills during Operation Sindoor: Ex-military chief

Pakistan’s Kirana Hills, which is reported to have a nuclear installation, may have been struck by a loitering munition fired by India during Operation Sindoor in May 2025, said former Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan on Tuesday.

Chauhan was the chief of defence staff during the military operation carried out against what India claimed were terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The strikes were in response to the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which killed 26 persons on April 22, 2025.

Speaking at an event in Delhi on Tuesday, Chauhan said that the Indian military did not launch munitions to deliberately target a nuclear site.

India had sent several munitions towards Sargodha to search for radars around the area, he said. “Kirana Hills is about 10 kilometres north of Sargodha,” added Chauhan.

He said that the munitions had an endurance of around two hours and if they failed to find a target within that time, would eventually descend and strike elsewhere.

During Operation Sindoor, the Indian armed forces had confirmed that they had hit the Pakistani air base in Sargodha, among others. However, Air Marshal AK Bharti, the director general of air operations at the time, had rejected claims that Indian forces had targeted Kirana Hills.

“Thank you for telling us...

Read more