Former Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan has said that an Indian loitering munition — reportedly an Israeli-designed Harop drone — may have struck Pakistan's Kirana Hills, a site considered a nuclear hub of the Pakistani Armed Forces, during Operation Sindoor. Speaking at the 'VIMARSH' event on Operation Sindoor at the Vivekananda International Foundation in New Delhi on Tuesday, 26 August, General Chauhan was clear that Kirana Hills was not a deliberate target.

How the Drone Ended Up at Kirana Hills

According to General Chauhan, the loitering munition had been deployed to hunt for radar installations in and around Sargodha. Kirana Hills lies approximately 10 kilometres north of Sargodha. After failing to locate a radar target and exhausting its fuel while operating in the vicinity, the munition appears to have crashed into one of the hills.

'Before those strikes, we had sent a lot of loiter ammunition at Sargodha and Kirana Hills, which is 10 km north of Sargodha. So the loiter ammunition was looking for radars which were in and around Sargodha, and it has got a lifetime,' General Chauhan said. He added: 'It will loiter for about two hours, and if it doesn't find a target, it will come and hit somewhere. It must have come and hit one of those hills.'

India's Official Position on Kirana Hills

The remarks align with the Indian Air Force's earlier public clarification. During Operation Sindoor in May last year, then Director General of Air Operations Air Marshal A.K. Bharti had addressed the media and categorically denied that India targeted the nuclear facility at Kirana Hills. '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,' Air Marshal Bharti had said.

General Chauhan, referring to Bharti's statement, reiterated: 'Bharti had rightly clarified that we did not target Kirana Hills.'

Skardu Strike Cleared but Called Off Due to Weather

General Chauhan also disclosed that the Indian Air Force (IAF) had received clearance to strike Skardu in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) during the operation, but the mission was aborted due to adverse weather conditions. The IAF subsequently redirected the strike to Bholari.

'The Chief had asked me whether he should strike Sargodha. I said, go ahead and added, please identify two more targets. One of the targets he had identified was Skardu. We gave a yes, but after some time, the weather was bad in Skardu, and they had to change over to Bholari,' General Chauhan said.

Bholari Strike: The Defining Visual of the Air Campaign

The IAF's strike on the Bholari hangar on 10 May subsequently became one of the most prominent symbols of the air campaign during Operation Sindoor. The mission was carried out by the IAF's Gandhinagar-based South Western Air Command. General Chauhan's disclosures provide the most detailed official-adjacent account yet of the decision-making chain behind some of the operation's most consequential moments.