New Delhi: Union Government on Tuesday said that three IAF officers have been sacked for the accidental firing of a Brahmos missile into Pakistan on 09^th March 2022.  According to the IAF statement a Court of Inquiry (Col), set up to establish the facts of the case, including fixing responsibility for the incident, found that deviation from the SOP by three officers led to the accidental firing of the missile.

These three officers have primarily been held responsible for the incident. Their services have been terminated by the Central Government with immediate effect. Termination orders have been served upon the officers on 23^rd August 2022, it added. The missile was fired accidentally from the Indian side into an area in Pakistan in March, in an incident the Defence Ministry had called deeply regrettable and blamed on technical malfunction.

According to Pakistan sources, the missile flew more than 100 km inside their airspace, at an altitude of 40,000 feet and at three times the speed of sound, before it landed. There was no warhead on the missile, so it did not detonate.