NEW DELHI — Clarifying long-standing speculations surrounding India’s military maneuvers during Operation Sindoor, former Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan (retd) on Tuesday confirmed that Indian armed forces did not target Pakistan’s Kirana Hills, a site widely reported to house underground nuclear storage facilities.
Addressing a gathering at the Vivekananda International Foundation during a talk on 'Operation Sindoor and its Aftermath,' Gen Chauhan explained that visual reports showing smoke rising from the hill range were likely caused by stray loitering munitions running out of flight capacity rather than a precision strike on strategic assets.
Gen Chauhan firmly backed the previous stance taken by Air Marshal A.K. Bharti (retd), the former Director General of Air Operations (DGAO), who had emphatically denied strikes on the facility in May last year.
How Loitering Munitions May Have Impacted the Area
Providing a tactical perspective on the operational events, the former CDS noted that Indian forces launched multiple loitering munitions—commonly known as suicide or kamikaze drones—towards the strategic Sargodha Airbase.
"Kirana Hills is situated roughly 10 kilometers north of Sargodha," Gen Chauhan explained. "The loitering munitions sent into the sector were programmed to search for active radar systems in and around Sargodha. These munitions have a specific endurance limit, loitering for about two hours. If they fail to locate an active target within that timeframe, they are designed to come down."
He added that one of these systems likely crashed into the elevated terrain after exhausting its operational range, accounting for the imagery broadcast by Pakistani media outlets showing smoke rising from the hills.
Context of Operation Sindoor
Operation Sindoor was launched by Indian defense forces in May 2025 as a direct counter-offensive following the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam. The targeted operation dismantled nine major terror infrastructure hubs across Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), resulting in the elimination of over 100 terrorists.
During the military engagements, Indian precision strikes hit critical installations at the Sargodha Airbase, prompting widespread social media speculation regarding potential damage to neighboring installations at Kirana Hills.
While confirming that the primary combat phases of Operation Sindoor have concluded, Gen Chauhan emphasized during his address that the overarching national security initiative remains active and ongoing.
