IAEA Sets Record Straight on Nuclear Leak Rumors in Pakistan
Wild stories started swirling online this week, claiming India had targeted Pakistan’s nuclear facilities during ‘Operation Sindoor’—specifically at the Kirana Hills site near Sargodha. These posts gained steam fast, hinting at radiation leaks and even flights by specialized U.S. and Egyptian planes supposedly responding to a nuclear emergency.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) stepped in quickly to put those rumors to rest. Speaking clearly, spokesperson Frederick Dahl said the agency found zero evidence of any radiation release or leak from Pakistani nuclear facilities. The statement came as speculation kept spreading online, fueled by unreliable ‘flight tracking’ screenshots and anxious social media debates.
India, for its part, faced direct accusations on social and international platforms. Some users and commentators claimed Indian forces hit Pakistan’s secretive Kirana Hills nuclear site. Others pointed at certain American energy department aircraft flying in the region—planes sometimes used after major nuclear disasters, like Fukushima—as suspicious evidence of a cover-up. The mention of an Egyptian military aircraft supposedly transporting boron, a chemical used to contain nuclear incidents, added more confusion to the mix. Former defense officials from various countries strongly dismissed these reports, labeling them as rumors without any factual base.
Officials From Both Sides Deny Allegations
Director General of the Indian Air Force, Air Marshal A.K. Bharti, directly addressed the claims. He stated that Indian forces did not have information about nuclear facilities at Kirana Hills and hadn’t targeted anything there. “We did not target Kirana Hills, nor did we hit any such facility,” Bharti clarified to the press. India’s Ministry of External Affairs backed this up. Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stressed that all Indian military actions during 'Operation Sindoor' were strictly conventional—meaning no involvement of weapons or strikes against nuclear sites.
On the Pakistani side, hints about a possible emergency National Command Authority meeting—responsible for overseeing the country's nuclear arsenal—were also making news, supposedly adding credibility to the panic. But government officials in Islamabad shut these reports down, denying any connection between the military operation and nuclear safety concerns.
Stray online chatter even tried to connect supposed local hospital activity with radiation sickness cases, but experts and authorities found none of this credible. Even widely followed international monitoring networks and environmental agencies reported nothing unusual near Sargodha, further letting the air out of the speculative balloon.
The IAEA, responsible for monitoring nuclear safety worldwide, closed the case with its statement: no leaks, no international crisis, and no basis for the swirling rumors. Their words effectively cooled off the anxiety that had spread online, confirming that while social media can light a fire under wild theories, hard evidence—and official fact-checking—still matter most.