Did India’s Operation Sindoor cause a nuclear leak in Pakistan? What’s behind the rumours?

Over the past few days, ever since the start of Operation Sindoor and the resulting near-war between India and Pakistan, there has been chatter of the weapons used by both sides and the misinformation campaign carried out by Islamabad.

In fact, this near-conflict has spawned many a rumours — there have been rumours that Pakistan has perpetrated that New Delhi attacked religious sites across the border. There’s also been buzz that New Delhi targeted civilians — a claim categorically rejected by our military.

But there’s one rumour that has garnered more attention than others — India’s Indian Air Force struck a nuclear facility in Pakistan’s Kirana Hills, causing a radioactive leak. It has spread like wildfire, prompting the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to dismiss this speculation , saying that there has been no radiation leak or release from any nuclear facility in Pakistan.

This ties in with the earlier response by the Indian Air Force that India has not hit any target in Pakistan’s Kirana Hills, which is reported to house some nuclear installations.

But how did these rumours grow? We decode this ‘radioactive’ mystery.

A nuclear meltdown?

Last Saturday (May 10), India and Pakistan came back from the brink of war when both sides announced that they had agreed to a ceasefire in cross border firing. This helped in the cessation of military action.

However, since then there have been many questions and claims — one among them being more popular than others.

It began online — where such rumours tend to grow — wherein some netizens began to post that the Indian military had struck Pakistan’s Kirana Hills, located near Sargodha airbase in the Punjab province. According to the rumour mills, this location is extra sensitive because it houses Pakistan’s nuclear warheads.

The rumour mongers claimed that when India struck the Sargodha airbase in Pakistan on May 10, it actually struck the entrance of the tunnels where the nuclear warheads are stored in Kirana Hills . These claims were further amplified as Islamabad appealed for a ceasefire only hours after this strike. In fact, Austrian military historian and combat aviation analyst also stated that India had struck two of Pakistan’s nuclear sites. “We have seen videos showing strikes on one of the… no actually, two defence nuclear weapons storage facilities in Pakistan.”

He further noted that it was these strikes in particular that forced Pakistan to establish a hotline call with India and asked for a ceasefire .

But that wasn’t it. The claims of India hitting a nuclear site got a further boost when some claimed that the United States reportedly deployed a radiation monitoring aircraft over the region. They claimed they spotted a US Beechcraft B350 Aerial Measuring System (AMS) aircraft over Pakistani airspace. The aircraft, with tail number N111SZ, is part of a US Department of Energy fleet designed for detecting radioactive contamination in emergency scenarios.

In fact, the B350 AMS has previously been used after incidents such as the Fukushima disaster and is equipped with gamma-ray sensors and real-time mapping tools.

When this issue reached the US State Department, it raised further eyebrows. When asked about the so-called presence of the B350 AMS, Principal Deputy Spokesperson Thomas Pigott said, “I have nothing to preview on that at this time.”

Adding to the intrigue was the alleged presence of an Egyptian airplane, which was ‘spotted’ landing and departing from Murree shortly after the Indian airstrikes. Some social media posts claimed the aircraft carried boron, a substance used to suppress radioactive emissions, though these reports remain unverified.

What did India say about Kirana Hills?

As rumours swirled and worries grew, an Indian journalist posed a question about Kirana Hills to India’s Air Force at a May 12 press briefing. The scribe asked Director General Air (Operations) Air Marshal AK Bharti if India had targeted Kirana Hills, which is believed to house a nuclear missile storage facility.

To this, the IAF official responded, “Thank you for telling us that Kirana Hills houses some nuclear installations. We did not know about it,” adding, “We have not hit Kirana Hills, whatever is there. I did not brief in my briefing yesterday.”

When a similar question was asked to Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, he said it was for the Pakistani side to respond to claims being made over it. In the press briefing on Tuesday, Jaiswal was asked about social media buzz on ‘nuclear leakage’ in Pakistan after the Indian strikes.

“Talk of Egyptian or American aircraft — those are questions for them (Pakistan) to answer, not for us. Our position was made very clear during the defence briefing. As for your question, the Pakistani minister has already made some remarks on that,” he said.

He added, “Our military action was entirely within the conventional domain. There were some reports suggesting that Pakistan’s National Command Authority would convene, but those were later denied. In fact, Pakistan’s government representatives have officially denied this on record.”

Has IAEA commented? What does it say?

And on Thursday (May 15), the global nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) tried to put the rumour to rest by saying that there has been “no radiation leak” from any nuclear facility in Pakistan.

“Based on information available to the IAEA, there has been no radiation leak or release from any nuclear facility in Pakistan,” an IAEA spokesperson told PTI.

What is Kirana Hills and why is it believed to be a nuclear site?

Located in Pakistan’s Punjab province near the city of Sargodha, Kirana Hills – often called Black Mountains because of its brownish terrain — are a range of low-lying rocky outcrops spanning roughly 12 km.

They are said to have over 10 tunnels, which reports claim are used for storage of Pakistan’s nuclear warheads. Some unconfirmed reports also state that M-11 missiles, supplied by China, are believed to have been stored there.

In a 2023, report, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists identified Kirana Hills as a subcritical nuclear test site, noting its use in developing Pakistan’s nuclear programme.

With inputs from agencies