India on Friday said Pakistan launched between 300 and 400 Turkish drones across 36 locations from Leh to Sir Creek in its failed attempt to target Indian military installations on Thursday night and also accused that country of using its civilian planes as a “shield” for its aerial attacks endangering the flights.
As Pakistan launched multiple drone attacks again on Friday night, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said Pakistan’s strike on places of worship and its “preposterous” attempts to put the blame on Indian armed forces is reflective of Islamabad’s evil design and efforts to deceive and mislead the world.
Citing Pakistan’s attack on a gurdwara in Amritsar and its subsequent attempt to blame it on Indian armed forces, Misri said Islamabad’s thinking that India would attack its own cities is the kind of “deranged fantasy” that only the Pakistani state can come up with.
At a media briefing, Misri slammed Pakistan’s provocative and escalatory actions to try and target Indian cities and civilian infrastructure using drones last night.
Most drones were downed using kinetic and non-kinetic means, said Col Sofiya Qureshi of the Army and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh of the Indian Air Force (IAF) at the briefing.
The two military officials said Pakistan used its civilian airliners as a “shield” as it did not close its civil airspace during its attempts to attack Indian installations with drones and missiles on May 7, knowing fully well that the strikes would elicit a swift response from India.
“On the night of May 8-9, Pakistan carried out large-scale violations of Indian airspace, attempting to target military infrastructure with 300-“400 drones across 36 locations from Leh to Sir Creek,” said Singh.
“Indian forces neutralised many drones using kinetic and non-kinetic means. An armed UAV strike on Bhatinda was also thwarted,” she said.
India responded by launching drone strikes on four Pakistani air defence sites, destroying a radar, the Wing Commander added.
Singh said the “possible” purpose of the large-scale Pakistani intrusions were to test the air defence systems and gather intelligence.
“Forensic examination of the drone debris is being undertaken. Preliminary reports suggest them to be Asisguard Songar drone of Turkey,” she said.
“Pakistan escalated with artillery and drone attacks across the Line of Control, causing casualties. Alarmingly, Pakistan kept its civil airspace open during the assault, endangering civilian flights,” she said.
In response to the Pakistani attack, Indian military launched armed drones launched at four air defence sites in Pakistan.
“One of the drones was able to destroy an air defence radar,” Singh said.
She said Pakistan also carried out artillery shelling across the LoC using heavy calibre artillery guns and armed drones at Kandhan, Uri, Poonch, Mender, Rajouri, Akur and Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir area which resulted in some losses and injuries to Indian Army personnel.
“Pakistan Army also suffered major losses in Indian retaliatory firing.
“Additionally, Pakistan’s irresponsible behaviour again came to the fore as Pakistan did not close its civil airspace despite it launching a failed unprovoked drone and missile attack on May 7,” said Qureshi.
“Pakistan is using civil airliners as a shield, knowing fully well that its attack on India would elicit a swift air defence response. This is not safe for the unsuspecting civil airliners, including the international flights which were flying near the international border between India and Pakistan,” she said.
The official also showed screenshots of flight movement on the website flightradar24.
“In the high air defence alert situation in the Punjab sector, the airspace on the Indian side is absolutely devoid of civil air traffic due to our declared closure. However, there are civil airlines flying the air route between Karachi and Lahore,” she said.
The IAF demonstrated considerable restraint in its response, thus ensuring safety of international flights, she added.
India deployed Barak-8 missiles, S-400 Triumph air defence systems, Akash surface-to-air missiles and indigenously developed anti-drone equipment in thwarting Pakistan’s attempts to hit 15 Indian cities on Wednesday night, official sources said.
The Border Security Force (BSF), meanwhile, said it has foiled an infiltration bid from across the Indo-Pak International Border in Jammu, killing at least seven terrorists and destroying a Rangers post.
The terrorists were engaged around 11 pm on Thursday in Samba district after a “big group” of terrorists was detected by the “surveillance grid”.
This infiltration bid was supported by fire from Pakistan Rangers post Dhandhar, a BSF spokesperson said.
Two more people were killed after Pakistani troops resorted to heavy shelling in areas near the Line of Control (LoC) in J and K, officials said. With this, the death toll due to shelling from across the LoC in the recent days rose to 18. (PTI)
