'Anil Chauhan made Operation Sindoor's success clear': Ex-Navy official Ranjit Rai backs Chauhan's Kirana Hills remarks

New Delhi [India], August 26 (ANI): Former Director of Naval Operations and Intelligence Commodore Ranjit Rai (Retd.) on Tuesday said former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan's recent remarks on Kirana Hills showed that Operation Sindoor was a 'total success', highlighting the use of loitering munitions during the 87-hour military operation. Speaking to ANI, Rai said, 'He made it absolutely clear that it was a total success (Operation Sindoor). He made it clear that the 87-hour operation, which the whole world is looking at and getting information. He disclosed that during the operation, loitering munitions, which are drones. They were loitering 10 miles from Sargodha; they had gone towards Sargodha, but 10 miles from Sargodha is the Khirana Hills. Pakistan has carried out some critical nuclear tests at the Khirana Hills. Underground in Kirana, they have got some nuclear facility. I mean, this is a revolution, telling the world that during Operation Sindoor.' Rai was reacting to Chauhan's remarks on Tuesday that a loitering munition deployed to look for radars in and around Sargodha in Pakistan 'must have' hit an area in Kirana Hills after failing to find its intended target. Chauhan, speaking at the Vivekananda Centre in New Delhi, said Kirana Hills is located around 10 kilometres north of Sargodha and houses Pakistani nuclear facilities. He explained that the loitering munitions sent towards Sargodha had a flight time of around two hours and, if they failed to locate a target, would eventually come down and hit an area. 'I think I'll clarify this...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 ammunitions at Sargodha and Kirana Hills is about 10 kilometers north of Sargodha. So the loitering ammunition is looking for radars which are in and around Sargodha, and it has a lifetime, which means it will loiter for about two hours and once it does not find a target, it comes down and hits somewhere,' Gen Chauhan had said. '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 had added. The remarks also come in the context of earlier comments by Air Marshal AK Bharti, who was Director General of Air Operations during Operation Sindoor. On May 12, 2025, Bharti had said that India had not hit Kirana Hills while responding to social media speculation that Indian forces had targeted the site. '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,' Bharti had said. India launched Operation Sindoor in response to the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were killed. Indian Armed Forces targeted terror infrastructure in Pakistan and POJK. As Pakistan sought to escalate, India pounded its airbases, forcing it to seek a ceasefire. (ANI)