More than a year after Operation Sindoor gripped headlines and stirred intense speculation, one of its most debated questions finally has an answer. Former Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan has revealed that an Indian loitering munition did strike Pakistan’s Kirana Hills during the operation — but the hit was entirely unintentional, the result of the weapon running out of flight time while hunting for a different target altogether. For those following news around India’s defence posture, this clarification puts to rest months of conflicting claims and online speculation.
What General Chauhan Actually Said
Speaking at an event hosted by the Vivekananda Centre in New Delhi, General Chauhan addressed a question that has followed Operation Sindoor since May 2025: had India struck Kirana Hills, a site long associated with Pakistan’s nuclear infrastructure. His answer was carefully specific — India had not deliberately targeted the location, but one of the loitering munitions deployed during the operation likely ended up hitting it anyway, purely as a byproduct of how these weapons function. Defence-related disclosures like this one continue to shape the broader states and national security conversation in India.
According to Chauhan, Indian forces had sent a number of loitering munitions — a type of weapon sometimes described as a “suicide drone” that circles an area searching for a target before striking — toward Sargodha, a Pakistani city with significant military infrastructure. Kirana Hills sits roughly 10 kilometres north of Sargodha. He explained that these munitions, likely Israeli-designed Harop drones, have a limited operational window of around two hours. If a munition fails to locate its intended target — in this case, Pakistani radar systems — within that window, it doesn’t simply return to base. Instead, it comes down and strikes wherever it happens to be at that point. The kind of precision defence technology involved here regularly features in our technology coverage as well.
“It must have come and hit one of those hills,” Chauhan said, adding that this likely explains the smoke visuals that Pakistani media had circulated from the Kirana Hills area at the time.
Why This Question Mattered So Much
Kirana Hills isn’t just any patch of terrain — it’s long been rumoured to house elements of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons infrastructure, making any suggestion of an Indian strike there an extraordinarily sensitive claim with serious geopolitical implications. When images showing smoke near the site surfaced during Operation Sindoor, they triggered widespread speculation on social media and in some sections of the press, with some voices suggesting India had knowingly struck a nuclear-linked facility. Stories like this tend to dominate our news coverage for days once they break, given how much public interest they attract.
The Indian Air Force moved quickly to shut that speculation down. At a media briefing during the operation itself, Air Marshal AK Bharti, who served as Director General of Air Operations at the time, stated plainly that India had not hit Kirana Hills and was not even aware of any nuclear facility at that location. That official denial stood for over a year, even as questions about what exactly caused the visible smoke near the site persisted in the background.
How the Two Statements Fit Together
Chauhan’s recent remarks don’t actually contradict what the Air Force said back in 2025 — they add a missing piece to it. He explicitly noted that Bharti had “rightly clarified” that India did not target Kirana Hills, meaning there was no deliberate strike ordered against the site. What Chauhan’s explanation adds is the mechanical detail of how an unguided, time-limited weapon searching for a completely different target nearby could have ended up striking the area anyway, entirely by accident. This kind of technical clarification is exactly the sort of update our news desk tracks closely once official statements are made.
This distinction matters a great deal in military and diplomatic terms. A deliberate strike on a nuclear-linked facility would represent an extraordinary escalation with far graver implications than an errant munition running out of endurance and landing somewhere unintended after failing its primary mission. Chauhan’s account effectively separates intent from outcome — the impact happened, but not because anyone ordered a strike on that specific site.
Other Revelations From the Same Event
Chauhan’s comments on Kirana Hills weren’t the only notable disclosure from his appearance. He also revealed that the Indian Air Force had received clearance to strike Skardu, a strategically located town in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, during the course of Operation Sindoor — a detail that adds further context to just how expansive India’s military planning was during the four-day conflict that unfolded in May 2025 following the Pahalgam terror attack, a period our states and regional coverage tracked closely at the time.
What This Means Going Forward
For a story that’s carried persistent speculation for well over a year, having a former CDS directly address the mechanics of what likely happened offers a rare degree of clarity on a subject that touches some of the most sensitive terrain in the India-Pakistan security relationship. That said, Chauhan’s explanation remains an official Indian account of events, and questions around the precise extent of any impact or damage at Kirana Hills are likely to remain subject to independent scrutiny going forward. We’ll continue tracking developments on this story through our regular news coverage.
This report is compiled based on statements made by former Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan at an event hosted by the Vivekananda Centre in New Delhi on August 25, 2026, as covered by ANI, India TV News, and NewsX.
