*New Delhi: *
Three Indian Air Force officers have been sacked for the accidental firingof a BrahMos missile into Pakistan earlier this year, the government saidTuesday.
“A BrahMos missile was accidentally fired on 09 March 2022. A Court ofInquiry (Col), set up to establish the facts of the case, including fixingresponsibility for the incident, found that deviation from the StandardOperating Procedures (SOP) by three officers led to the accidental firingof the missile,” the Air Force said in a statement.
“These three officers have primarily been held responsible for theincident. Their services have been terminated by the Central Govt withimmediate effect. Termination orders have been served upon the officers on23 Aug 22,” it added.
The missile was fired accidentally from the Indian side into an area inPakistan earlier in March, in an incident the Defence Ministry had called”deeply regrettable” and blamed on “technical malfunction”.
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According to Pakistan, the missile flew more than 100 km inside theirairspace, at an altitude of 40,000 feet and at three times the speed ofsound, before it landed. There was no warhead on the missile, so it did notdetonate.
The country’s foreign office said it had summoned India’s charge d’affairesin Islamabad to protest what it called an unprovoked violation of itsairspace. Pakistan called for an investigation into the incident, which itsaid could have endangered passenger flights and civilian lives.
Pakistan warned India “to be mindful of the unpleasant consequences of suchnegligence and take effective measures to avoid the recurrence of suchviolations in future”.
