'Kirana Hills strike was inadvertent': Ex-Army chief says escalation control could get harder in future

The explosion at Pakistan's Kirana Hills during Operation Sindoor was inadvertent and not a deliberate strike, former Army chief Ved Prakash Malik said on Wednesday. He said that in the future, controlling escalation could become harder as militaries increasingly use loitering munitions and stand-off weapons.

Malik said the explosion was caused by a loitering munition searching for radar sites around Sargodha. He said India most probably had the capability to target the nuclear facility reportedly located in the Kirana Hills but chose not to do so to avoid escalation.

"Kirana Hills Strike during Op Sindoor: Explosion caused by loitering munition seeking radar sites around Sargodha was inadvertent, not deliberate," Malik said in a post. "It could not have caused damage to nuclear facility silos. Did India have vectors of the Kirana Hills nuclear facility? Most probably yes. But it was not targeted to avoid escalation."

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Malik said the incident nevertheless sent a message to Pakistan. "Did this strike convey any message to Pakistan? Yes. That India can target military or economic facilities with precision anywhere in Pakistan," he said.

The former army chief also warned that an accidental incident involving such weapons could still trigger a rapid response. "Can such an accidental incident cause immediate retaliation/escalation? Yes. That cannot be ruled out," he said. "Lesson. Escalation control with hi-tech loitering & stand-off strikes can become more challenging in future."

Malik served as Army chief from October 1997 to September 2000 and led the Indian Army during the 1999 Kargil War. His comments came a day after former Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan also said Indian forces did not target Kirana Hills, where Pakistan reportedly has a nuclear facility.

Speaking at a talk on Operation Sindoor and its aftermath on Tuesday, Chauhan said India had sent a large number of loitering munitions towards Sargodha. One may have hit a hill after losing its ability to continue flying.

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Chauhan backed Air Marshal A K Bharti, who was then the Director General of Air Operations, when he said on May 12 last year: "We have not hit Kirana hills, whatever is there."

Bharti was responding to questions about social media reports that India had struck Kirana Hills during its counter-offensive.

Chauhan said the loitering munitions were searching for radars around Sargodha. Kirana Hills is about 10 km north of the city. The weapons could loiter for around two hours while searching for a target. If they did not find one, they would eventually come down, he said.

"It must have come and hit one of those hills," the former CDS said, adding that this could explain reports and images in Pakistani media showing smoke from Kirana Hills.

India launched Operation Sindoor in May 2025 against nine terror infrastructure sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.

During the ensuing military conflict, Indian strikes also hit an airbase in Sargodha. The base was reported to be linked to an underground nuclear storage facility in the Kirana Hills area.