General Anil Chauhan, India's former Chief of Defence Staff, said on Tuesday that an Indian Harop loitering munition accidentally struck Pakistan's Kirana Hills area near Sargodha during Operation Sindoor. Speaking at the Vivekananda Centre in New Delhi, Chauhan said the incident was unintentional and that India did not deliberately target Pakistan's nuclear facilities.

According to Chauhan, the Harop was deployed in the Sargodha area to locate and destroy Pakistani military radar installations. It failed to identify its intended target, continued searching, and ran critically low on fuel. With flight endurance exhausted, the munition descended and struck the area, which houses a nuclear facility. Chauhan's remarks were reported by an Indian news outlet.