The Centre has, for the first time, officially disclosed the identities of six Indian military personnel who lost their lives during Operation Sindoor, the armed forces' cross-border operation against terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir following the Pahalgam terror attack. The names have been included in the Roll of Honour on the National War Memorial website and engraved at the National War Memorial in New Delhi, marking the government's first formal acknowledgement of military casualties sustained during the operation.
The six personnel are Subedar Major Pawan Kumar of Headquarters 10 Infantry Brigade, Rifleman Sunil Kumar (Vir Chakra) of 4 Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry, Lance Naik Dinesh Kumar of 5 Field Regiment, Agniveer Murali Naik, Havildar Sunil Kumar Singh of 237 Field Workshop Company, and Sergeant Surendra Kumar (Vayu Medal) of 39 Wing, Indian Air Force. Five of the fallen belonged to the Indian Army, while one served in the Indian Air Force, reflecting the joint-service nature of the operation. Their names have been inscribed on Wall 3D of the National War Memorial under the 2025 Roll of Honour, which commemorates armed forces personnel who made the supreme sacrifice in service of the nation.
Operation Sindoor was launched on 7 May 2025, weeks after the 22 April Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 civilians, most of them tourists, were killed. In response, the Indian armed forces carried out precision strikes on nine terror-linked locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, targeting infrastructure associated with Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba. Pakistan retaliated with aerial engagements, drone attacks and cross-border shelling, leading to four days of military hostilities before both countries agreed to halt operations on 10 May following talks between their Directors General of Military Operations.
The names of the six personnel have been released alongside the list of all Indian soldiers who laid down their lives in military operations during 2025. The National War Memorial, inaugurated in 2019 near India Gate, commemorates members of the armed forces who have died in service since Independence. With the addition of these six names, Operation Sindoor has now been formally recorded among the military operations honoured at the memorial. The operation's name carried symbolic significance. "Sindoor", the traditional vermilion worn by married Hindu women, was chosen to represent India's response to the Pahalgam attack, in which several women lost their husbands.
