Army Chief Gen Upendra Dwivedi asserted that Operation Sindoor was unlike any conventional mission and that it was akin to playing a game of chess as "we did not know" what would be the enemy's next move.

In his address at a function at IIT-Madras, he recalled the intricacies of India's decisive military action in May on terror infrastructure in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack.

Dwivedi claimed that the Centre gave a "free hand" to the armed forces to execute Operation Sindoor.

Dwivedi has mocked Pakistan's victory claim against India during the recent conflict, underlining the importance of the narrative management system. "Narrative management system is something which we realise in a big way because victory is in mind. It's always in the mind. If you ask a Pakistani whether you lost or won, he'd say, my chief has become field marshal, we must have won only, that's why he has become field marshal," said the Chief of Army Staff, taking a subtle jibe at Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir's promotion to Field Marshal.

Using the metaphor of the chess game, Gen Dwivedi said, "In Operation Sindoor what we did, we played chess. So, what does it mean? It means, we did not know what is the next move, the enemy is going to take, and what we are going to do. This is something, we call.. the grey zone. Grey zone is that we are not going for the conventional operations. But, we are doing something, just short of a conventional operation."

"Conventional operation means, go with everything, take everything you have. And, if you are able to come back, otherwise, stay there. That is called the conventional approach. Here, the grey zone means any activity that is taking place in all domains, that is something we are talking about and Operation Sindoor taught us that this is the grey zone," he said.

"So, we were making the chess moves, and he (enemy) was also making the chess moves. Somewhere we were giving him the checkmate and somewhere we were going in for the kill at the risk of losing our own, but that's the way, life is all about," the Army chief said.

Earlier, Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh on Saturday said that India downed five Pakistani fighter jets, and one large Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) or early warning aircraft, during Operation Sindoor.

Under Operation Sindoor in May, the IAF carried out precision strikes on multiple targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir linked to terror groups.

The operation was aimed at destroying terror infrastructure and neutralising key operatives in wake of the Pahalgam attack.

(With inputs from agencies)