Archive · 16 Aug 2026
Pakistan fired missile at Delhi before India's BrahMos assault: Documentary
In May 2025, the countries of India and Pakistan had a big fight.
A new documentary says Pakistan sent a very fast rocket toward Delhi, India's capital city.
Indian soldiers stopped the rocket in the sky near a town called Sirsa before it could hurt anyone.
After that, India sent its own very fast rockets, called BrahMos, toward Pakistan.
The rockets hit places where Pakistan kept its planes and army equipment.
Pakistan then used a special telephone line to tell India it wanted to stop fighting, and India agreed.
Both sides stopped fighting at 5:30 in the evening on May 10.
By then, the two countries had been clashing for more than 71 hours.
The documentary, called "Declassified: Operation Sindoor," tells this whole story to help people understand what happened.
Discovery's documentary 'Declassified: Operation Sindoor' says Pakistan fired a high-speed missile toward Delhi at about 1:30 am on May 10 that was intercepted over Sirsa, Haryana.
The missile attack triggered India's final retaliatory assault, with the Indian Air Force unleashing BrahMos-A cruise missiles on Pakistani airfields, radar sites and command-and-control centres.
Within hours India struck 11 Pakistani airbases, including Rafiqui, Sukkur, Rahim Yar Khan, Nur Khan, Sargodha, Bholari and Jacobabad.
The Ministry of Defence has not publicly identified Delhi as the intended target of any Pakistan missile, unlike the documentary.
Pakistani DGMO Maj Gen Kashif Abdullah requested a ceasefire in a hotline call, and both sides agreed to halt hostilities by 5:30 pm on May 10; India declined third-party mediation.
- Who
- India and Pakistan, with key figures including Indian NSA Ajit Doval, Indian DGMO Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai, Pakistani DGMO Maj Gen Kashif Abdullah, Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security analyst Nitin Gokhale.
- What
- Pakistan launched a high-speed missile toward Delhi that was intercepted, prompting India's BrahMos cruise missile strikes on Pakistani bases in Operation Sindoor and a ceasefire hours later.
- When
- May 10, 2025 – the missile was fired around 1:30 am and a ceasefire took effect at 5:30 pm; the documentary was released on August 15.
- Where
- India and Pakistan, including Delhi, Sirsa in Haryana, and Pakistani airbases such as Rafiqui, Sukkur and Rawalpindi airport.
- Why
- India said the attack aimed at its national capital triggered the final wave of retaliation in a standoff that had already lasted more than 71 hours.
- Event
- Operation Sindoor, India–Pakistan standoff (May 2025)
- Documentary
- Declassified: Operation Sindoor (Discovery, two-part docuseries; released at 9 pm on August 15)
- Trigger
- Pakistan missile aimed at Delhi, intercepted at ~1:30 am on May 10 over Sirsa, Haryana (per documentary; MoD has not named Delhi as a target)
- Interception system
- Barak-8 surface-to-air missile system, per reports, by an Indian Air Force unit at Sirsa
- Indian retaliation
- BrahMos-A cruise missiles; 11 Pakistani airbases struck within hours
- Airbases hit
- First wave: Rafiqui, Sukkur, Rahim Yar Khan, Nur Khan; second wave: Sargodha, Bholari, Jacobabad
- Ceasefire
- Agreed by 5:30 pm on May 10, 2025, after the Pakistani DGMO requested a halt
- Mediation
- India refused third-country mediation; Pakistan's DGMO was directed to contact India via the designated military channel