IAF stand junks reports of 'radioactive leakage'

NEW DELHI:

IAF

's categorical denial that it had bombed

Kirana Hills

in Pakistan's Punjab province effectively junks reports of "

radioactive leakage

" at the site due to a missile hit, which had found some traction in international circles."We have not hit Kirana Hills, whatever is there. I did not brief about it in my briefing on Operation Sindoor yesterday," Air Marshal A K Bharti said at the tri-services presser on Monday. IAF, of course, did hit the

Sargodha airbase

, which is home to F-16 and JF-17 fighters, and just around 20km from Kirana Hills. The hills are around 75km away from Pakistan's crucial

Khushab nuclear complex

, which has four heavy water reactors to produce weapons-grade plutonium.Another big hit took place at the Nur Khan-Chaklala airbase at Rawalpindi, located close to the headquarters of Pakistan's Strategic Plans Division, which handles Pak's N-arsenal like the Indian Strategic Forces Command, and is barely 10km from Islamabad. "More than the actual damage, the hits constituted strategic messaging," a senior officer said.