‘Did Not Hit Kirana Hills:’ Air Force Dismisses Speculation Around Striking Pakistan’s Nuclear Site

New Delhi: Air Marshal A.K. Bharti today (May 12) said that the Indian Air Force had not hit Kirana Hills, in answer to a question on speculation on social media that India had struck the site housing Pakistan's nuclear infrastructure during the four-day military standoff last week.

Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai, Air Marshal Bharti, Vice Admiral A.N. Pramod and Major General S.S. Sharda conducted their second press briefing in two days today. In response to a question on social media speculation on a Kirana Hills strike, Bharti said that no such strike was conducted.

"Thank you for telling us that Kirana Hills houses some nuclear installations. We did not know about it. We have not hit Kirana Hills. I did not brief in my briefing yesterday,” he said.

On May 11, the three officers of the services had provided a detailed account of India’s military actions under Operation Sindoor, which was launched early on May 7 in retaliation to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 civilians.

Early on May 7, India struck nine targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Lieutenant General Ghai had said over 100 terrorists were killed, including individuals linked to the 1999 IC-814 hijacking and the 2019 Pulwama attack. Among those named were Yousuf Azhar, Abdul Malik Ral and Mudasir Ahmed. Notably in Sunday's briefing, when asked about how many assets the armed forces lost last week in light of Islamabad’s claim to have downed Indian fighter jets, Bharti had said that “we are in a combat situation and losses are a part of combat”, but declined to divulge any details. 

Also undivulged are details on how many Indian civilians have lost their lives in the violent escalation. While the military has accounted for five deaths, unofficial reports put the number of dead at 19.

At today's briefing Bharti said that India's fight was only against terrorists and terrorism.

“Our fight was against terrorism and terrorists. That is why, on May 7, we targeted only terrorist hideouts. Unfortunately, the Pakistani military chose to support the terrorists and made this fight their own,” he said.

“In such a situation, our retaliatory action became absolutely necessary, and whatever damage they suffered, they are solely responsible for it. On our part, our defence systems stood like a wall for the nation, making it impossible for the enemy to breach them.”

Bharti stressed today that the Chinese-origin PL-15 missile "has missed its target", and displayed images of its purported pieces.

"Another weapon that was found was long-range rockets. We have talked about the Loiter munitions and unmanned aerial systems... All these have been brought down by our trained crew and Air Defence system," he said.

Bharti spoke of Indian battle-proven systems too. 

"Our battle-proven systems stood the test of time and take them head on. Another highlight has been the stellar performance of the indigenous air defence system, the Akash system. Putting together and operationalising the potent AD environment has been possible only because of budgetary and policy support from the government of India in the last decade," he said.

Bharti also said that India’s air bases, defence systems are “operational and ready for the next mission”.

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