Indian strike on Kirana Hills in Pakistan during Operation Sindoor was accidental, says former CDS Anil Chauhan

Former Chief of Defence Staff Anil Chauhan on Tuesday said India may have struck Pakistan’s Kirana Hills during Operation Sindoor last year, but suggested the hit was unintentional, as per an ANI report. Speaking at the Vivekanand International Foundation’s ‘VIMARSH’ event on Operation Sindoor and its aftermath, Chauhan said an Indian loitering munitions searching for radars around Sargodha may have run out of fuel and subsequently hit the hills, an area associated with Pakistan’s nuclear facilities.

Chauhan said several loitering munitions had been deployed around Sargodha to locate radar systems before the strikes. Kirana Hills is around 10 kilometres north of Sargodha, he said. According to him, the munitions had a loitering duration of about two hours and, if they failed to identify a target during that period, would descend and strike a location.

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Why Kirana Hills may have been hit

“At occasions, it's been asked whether Kirana Hills were hit or not, which is where their (Pakistan's) nuclear facilities are... Before those strikes, we had sent in a lot of loitering munitions at Sargodha and Kirana Hills is about 10 kilometers north of Sargodha,” Chauhan said.

He explained that the munitions were intended to search for radars in and around Sargodha. If no target was detected before the munitions' fuel or operational duration ended, it would come down and hit somewhere.

“So the loitering mission is looking for radars which are in and around Sargodha, and it has a lifetime, which means it will loiter for about 2 hours and once it does not find a target, it comes down and hits somewhere. It must have come and hit one of those hills. So that could be one of the reasons as to what people asked, because Pakistani media also showed some kind of images in which there was smoke coming out from Kirana Hills,” he added.

The remarks differ from a statement made last year by former Director General of Air Operations, Air Marshal AK Bharti, who had said that Indian forces had not targeted Kirana Hills or any nuclear facility there.

Sargodha strike was changed to Bholari

Chauhan also recounted another episode from Operation Sindoor, saying the Air Chief sought his approval to strike Sargodha after Pakistan requested talks. He said he approved the strike and asked that two additional targets be identified.

“Once the Pakistanis had picked up the phone and said they wanted to talk at about 10 AM. The Air Chief asked me whether he should strike Sargodha, I said, Go ahead. I said, could you please identify two more targets, so one of the targets he identified was Skardu,” Chauhan said.

He said Skardu was subsequently approved as a target, but poor weather forced a change in plans.

“We gave a yes, but after some time, the weather was bad over it and they had to change over to Bholari,” he added.

Chauhan on military risk and political objectives

During his address, Chauhan said military decisions involve different levels of risk, which need to be weighed against the political objectives they are intended to achieve.

“Each option has a certain kind of risk involved in it, and also it will satisfy the political need for which it was to be used. So, it’s an interplay between risk and attainment of political objectives,” he said.

Chauhan also said Operation Sindoor remains relevant nearly 15 months after its major active phase ended. He said any assessment of the operation should consider deficiencies identified during the campaign, steps taken to address those shortcomings and changes in the nature of warfare.

According to Chauhan, these factors, together with broader global uncertainties, are presenting military planners with new challenges.

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What happened during Operation Sindoor

Kirana Hills is a large rocky mountain range and a designated area under Pakistan’s ministry of defence in Sargodha district. It is locally known as the “Black Mountains” because of its brownish terrain and extends between the township of Rabwah and Sargodha city.

On May 12 last year, Air Marshal AK Bharti had rejected claims that Indian forces had targeted a nuclear facility at Kirana Hills. Responding to a question during a press conference, Bharti said, “Thank you for telling us that Kirana Hills houses some nuclear installation. We did not know about it. And we have not hit Kirana Hills, whatever is there.”

India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, 2025, following the April 22 deadly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam region, in which 26 people were killed. The tri-services operation targeted terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The government said more than 100 terrorists were killed in the strikes.

In the days that followed, Indian armed forces responded to Pakistan’s attempted retaliatory strikes. On May 10, the Pakistani army contacted its Indian counterpart, resulting in a ceasefire understanding between the two countries.

After the operation, speculation and social media discussions had claimed that India had struck the Mushaf Airbase in Sargodha, which was reportedly linked to underground nuclear storage beneath Kirana Hills. The Indian Air Force denied targeting the facility at the time and has continued to deny that it was targeted.