'80 drones in 36 hours': Pakistan's big admission on Operation Sindoor; confirms damage to Nur Khan airbase

Pakistan has once again found itself on the defensive after a senior government official publicly acknowledged the impact of India’s precision strikes on a key military installation during the escalation in May, following Operation Sindoor.

The admission came from Pakistan’s foreign minister and deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, who, during a year-end press briefing on Saturday, confirmed that India had targeted the Nur Khan Air Base in Rawalpindi’s Chaklala area. Dar acknowledged that the strike caused damage to the military installation and injured personnel stationed there.


Addressing reporters, Dar said India had launched multiple drone incursions into Pakistani territory within a short span, underlining the scale of the operation. “They (India) send drones towards Pakistan. In 36 hours, at least 80 drones were sent... We were able to intercept 79 drones out of 80, and only one drone damaged a military installation and personnel were also injured in the attack,” he claimed, according to news agency ANI.

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The foreign minister went on to describe the sequence of events following the strikes, saying that Pakistan’s civil and military leadership, led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, held an emergency meeting on the night of May 9 to respond to the evolving situation. He added that India “made the mistake” of attacking the Nur Khan Air Base in the early hours of May 10, a remark that further acknowledged the strike and its impact.

Dar’s comments amount to a rare public admission by a top Pakistani official of India’s military action on Pakistani air bases in May. The strikes came after Operation Sindoor, launched by the Indian Armed Forces to target nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, in retaliation for the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 civilians.

The Pakistan Air Force’s Nur Khan Air Base in Chaklala suffered significant damage during the Indian precision strikes. India had launched Operation Sindoor in the early hours of May 7 as a direct response to the Pahalgam attack.

The escalation that followed saw increased cross-border shelling by Pakistan and retaliatory action by Indian forces. The situation later took an unexpected turn when Pakistan’s Director General of Military Operations contacted his Indian counterpart to propose a ceasefire, which India accepted. The outreach from the Pakistani side was later confirmed by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, who said both sides agreed to halt all military operations on land, at sea and in the air.

Satellite imagery released by Maxar Technologies on May 13 showed significant damage to multiple Pakistani air bases, including Nur Khan Air Base. The images revealed damage at four installations: Nur Khan Air Base in Rawalpindi, PAF Base Mushaf in Sargodha, Bholari Air Base and PAF Base Shahbaz in Jacobabad. A comparison of satellite images taken on April 25 and May 10 showed clear damage to air base facilities, corroborating the strikes.

This is not the first time a senior Pakistani leader has acknowledged the attack on Nur Khan Air Base. In May, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif admitted that Indian ballistic missiles had hit the base and other locations, breaking from Pakistan’s usual practice of denying Indian military action.

Addressing a ceremony at the Pakistan Monument on May 16, Sharif said, “At around 2:30 am on May 10, General Syed Asim Munir called me on a secure line and informed me that India's ballistic missiles had hit Nur Khan Airbase and other areas. Our Air Force used homegrown technology to save our country, and they even used modern gadgets and technology on Chinese jets,” Geo News reported.