Govt reveals names of six Indian military personnel killed in Operation Sindoor for first time

The Centre for the first time has released the names of six Indian military personnel who died during Operation Sindoor, India’s response to the Pahelgam terror attack. The cross-border military operation was lunched to neutralize terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashimir.

The names of five Army personnel and one from the Air Force has been published in the Roll of Honour section on the National War Memorial website. They will be engraved on the granite walls of the memorial in New Delhi. This is the first official disclosure of the fatalities suffered by the Indian military in Operation Sindoor.

Six names made public

The six personnel are Subedar Major Pawan Kumar of Headquarters 10 Infantry Brigade; Rifleman Sunil Kumar of 4 Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry; Lance Naik Dinesh Kumar of 5 Field Regiment; Agniveer Mood Muralinaik of 851 Light Regiment; Havildar Sunil Kumar Singh of 237 Field Workshop Company; and Sergeant Surendra Kumar of 39 Wing of the Indian Air Force.

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Among them, Rifleman Sunil Kumar was posthumously awarded the Vir Chakra, the country's third-highest wartime gallantry award, while Sergeant Surendra Kumar received the Vayu Medal. President Droupadi Murmu presented the Vir Chakra to Sunil Kumar's family during the Defence Investiture Ceremony on June 8. His mother, Sudesh Kumari, and father, Yash Paul, accepted the decoration on his behalf.

Honoured at memorial

The names have been inscribed on a commemorative brick at the National War Memorial's Tyag Chakra, the Circle of Sacrifice made up of 16 concentric granite walls. Each brick records the name, rank and regiment of military personnel who have laid down their lives in the service of the nation since Independence.

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Although reports had identified military casualties in the days following the four-day conflict in May 2025, the government had not officially released the identities of those killed during Operation Sindoor.

First official confirmation

Their inclusion in the National War Memorial's Roll of Honour now serves as the first formal confirmation of the armed forces personnel who died in the operation.

Operation Sindoor was launched in the early hours of May 7, 2025, in response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, in which 26 civilians, most of them tourists, were killed.