India Bombed Pakistan’s Nuclear Site at Kirana Hills—Satellite Images Confirm After Weeks of Denial

More than two months after Indian officials dismissed reports of an attack on Pakistan’s ultra-sensitive, nuclear-linked Kirana Hills facility during Operation Sindoor, compelling satellite imagery has now surfaced, confirming the strike with undeniable clarity.

High-resolution imagery from Google Earth, captured in June 2025 and analysed by internationally respected geo-intelligence expert Damien Symon, exposes a missile impact zone within the Kirana Hills region in Pakistan’s Sargodha district—a location historically tied to Islamabad’s nuclear weapons research and development.

The revelation not only contradicts India’s earlier public stance but also confirms that Operation Sindoor reached deeper and more strategically than initially acknowledged, striking directly at the heart of Pakistan’s legacy nuclear infrastructure.

Sharing the annotated imagery on X (formerly Twitter), Symon wrote, “Imagery update from Google Earth of the Sargodha region, Pakistan, captured in June 2025, shows—1. The impact location of India’s strike on Kirana Hills in May 2025; 2. Repaired runways at Sargodha airbase post-India’s strikes in May 2025.”

His post included clear visual evidence indicating a missile impact site within the Kirana Hills zone and freshly repaired runways at the nearby Sargodha airbase, underscoring that both strategic sites were affected during the Indian operation.

These findings dismantle weeks of denial from Indian authorities and cast new light on the true scope of Operation Sindoor, which took place in May 2025 amid heightened cross-border tensions.

Long viewed by global intelligence agencies as a pivotal node in Pakistan’s nuclear architecture, Kirana Hills is believed to have housed underground cold-test facilities used in the 1980s for the validation of nuclear warhead designs without actual detonation.

From 1983 to 1990, Pakistan reportedly conducted a series of “cold tests” at the Kirana Hills, involving non-fissile simulations of nuclear device functions inside excavated tunnels in the rocky terrain of central Punjab.

Although actual nuclear testing later shifted to the Chagai Hills in Balochistan—culminating in Pakistan’s public nuclear tests in 1998—Kirana Hills remains an enduring symbol of the country’s nuclear weapons capability and a likely reserve facility for strategic operations.

The confirmation that India targeted such a legacy nuclear site marks a seismic shift in South Asia’s security calculus.

It also signals a potential departure from India’s traditionally restrained doctrine of strategic deterrence to a more proactive and pre-emptive use of precision-strike capabilities against high-value targets inside Pakistani territory.

According to regional defence analysts, the May 2025 operation saw India launch at least 15 BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles—each with a range of 300–500km and capable of carrying high-explosive or unitary warheads—as part of a coordinated attack on key Pakistani military infrastructure.

Multiple Pakistani military installations, including 11 out of its 13 primary airbases, reportedly suffered substantial damage during the strike, severely impairing the country’s integrated air defence system, radar coverage, and sortie generation capability.

The satellite imagery showing rapid repairs to the Sargodha airbase’s runways suggests that the installation was either severely damaged or deliberately targeted due to its strategic importance.

Sargodha is not only a major Pakistan Air Force base but is also believed to host nuclear delivery platforms such as the Shaheen ballistic missiles and JF-17 Block III fighters configured for strategic missions.

That India struck both Kirana Hills and the adjacent Sargodha airbase implies a deliberate effort to disrupt Pakistan’s second-strike capability or degrade its strategic response posture in the event of escalation.

While India’s military and political leadership have maintained a posture of plausible deniability, the satellite revelations now place New Delhi’s actions under intense scrutiny—both domestically and internationally.

Analysts believe this strike serves as a direct warning to the Pakistani military establishment that no site, not even legacy nuclear assets, is immune from precision attack if deemed a threat to Indian national security.

The Indian military’s ability to conduct such a strike with minimal detection or counter-response also showcases its increasingly advanced stand-off strike capabilities, including real-time surveillance, satellite integration, and long-range precision weaponry like the BrahMos and potentially indigenous systems such as the Nirbhay.

In the immediate aftermath of Operation Sindoor, social media platforms were flooded with unverified claims that India had targeted Kirana Hills.

These allegations were swiftly dismissed by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), which issued a categorical denial, labelling the reports “fabricated misinformation” and part of a “malicious disinformation campaign.”

“The Armed Forces of Pakistan remain vigilant and fully capable of defending every inch of our territory,” said ISPR in its statement. “Any suggestion of a missile strike on Kirana Hills is completely untrue and part of a malicious disinformation campaign.”

India also denied the accusations.

During the brief conflict, Air Marshal A.K. Bharti, India’s Director General of Air Operations, quipped, “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.”

The remark, while delivered with sarcasm, was widely seen as a calculated attempt to maintain operational ambiguity while avoiding open admission of a strike on a nuclear-linked facility.

Strategic analysts now suggest that India may be leveraging ambiguity as part of a broader doctrine of “covert assertiveness”—delivering punitive strikes while retaining diplomatic deniability to avoid spiraling escalation or international censure.

Pakistan’s continued silence on the verified satellite damage may reflect internal strategic calculations.

Acknowledging that a critical nuclear-linked site was struck by enemy fire would not only damage military credibility but could also invite scrutiny over the safety and security of the country’s nuclear arsenal by international watchdogs such as the IAEA and foreign capitals.

Furthermore, admission of the breach could provoke internal panic or calls for retaliation that Islamabad may not be in a position to deliver without risking full-scale conflict.

With the Line of Control remaining tense and bilateral relations frozen, this latest satellite-confirmed strike injects further volatility into South Asia’s already combustible strategic landscape.

More broadly, it highlights the critical role of commercial satellite intelligence in unmasking state-level disinformation and denial, reinforcing a new era of public-domain strategic verification.

Operation Sindoor will now be remembered not just for its breadth and precision, but for shattering the long-standing taboo around striking nuclear-associated facilities—a bold, high-stakes move that redefines the military playbook in the subcontinent.

As India projects power deeper into contested space with a mix of technological superiority and strategic signalling, its regional adversaries will be forced to recalibrate their own doctrines, basing them not on assumptions of sanctuary, but on the grim reality of precision warfare in the age of unblinking satellites and supersonic cruise missiles.