New Delhi: Pakistan used 300-400 Turkish drones to infiltrate Indian air space at 36 locations along the length and breadth of the western borders, and used a civil airliner as a shield to prevent a quick hit back Thursday evening, the Indian government has said.
The drone intrusion was described by the government Friday as an action to gauge Indian air defence systems and gather intelligence.
“On the night of 8 and 9 May, the Pakistan army violated Indian airspace several times over the entire western border with the intention of targeting military infrastructure. Not only this, the Pakistani army also fired heavy calibre weapons along the Line of Control. Around 300 to 400 drones were used to attempt infiltration at 36 locations,” said Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, briefing the media flanked by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh.
“The Indian armed forces shot down many of these drones, using kinetic and non-kinetic means. The possible purpose of such large-scale aerial intrusions was to test air defence systems and collect intelligence.”
Colonel Qureshi added, “Forensic investigation of the wreckage of the drones is being done. Initial reports suggest that they are Turkish Asisguard Songar drones.”
Wing Commander Singh announced that late Thursday night, an armed Unmanned Aerial Vehicle of Pakistan attempted to target the Bathinda military station, which was detected and neutralized.
“In response to the Pakistani attack, armed drones were launched at four air defence sites in Pakistan. One of the drones was able to destroy an AD (air defence) radar. Pakistan also carried out artillery shelling across the Line of Control using heavy-calibre artillery guns and armed drones… which resulted in some losses and injuries to Indian army personnel. The Pakistan army also suffered major losses in Indian retaliatory fire,” she said.
Pakistan also left its civilian air space open “despite” launching its drone and missile attack at 8.30 pm on the evening of 7 May, in an attempt to use civilian airliners as a shield, “knowing fully well that its attack on India would elicit a swift air defence response,” Wing Commander Singh highlighted.
“This is not safe for the unsuspecting civil airliners, including the international flights, which were flying near IP between India and Pakistan,” she added.
Colonel Qureshi held up a screenshot from Flightradar24, the airline tracking application, which showed that at 8.30 pm Wednesday, a civilian aircraft operated by flynas aviation, which took off from Dammam in Saudi Arabia at around 5.50 pm and landed in Lahore at 9.10 pm.
Pakistan targeting places of worship
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said Pakistan has been targeting “gurdwaras, convents and temples” indicating that by design Islamabad is shelling places of worship across the Line of Control.
“During heavy shelling across the Line of Control in the early morning of 7th May, a shell fired from Pakistan landed just behind the Christ School, run by the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate congregation in Poonch. Tragically, the shell fired from Pakistan hit the home of two students of the Christ School,” said Misri.
Both students were killed, while their parents were severely injured. Another shell launched by Pakistan damaged water tanks and destroyed solar panels at a Christian convent of nuns belonging to the congregation of the Mother of Carmel, according to the foreign secretary.
A gurdwara in Poonch was also attacked by Pakistan’s shelling, which left a number of members from the local Sikh community dead, and damaged the building.
“Instead of owning up to these attacks, Pakistan made the preposterous and outrageous claim that it was the Indian Armed Forces and the Indian Air Force that was targeting cities like Amritsar and trying to put the blame on Pakistan. This is nothing but a desperate attempt by Pakistan to disown its acts of aggression,” Misri said.
The foreign secretary also said that External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has had conversations with a number of his foreign counterparts including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio late Thursday evening, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy and the Norway foreign minister Espen Barth Eide Friday.
“The Minister had a conversation with the UK Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, today. There too, the discussion centered around countering terrorism, for which there must be zero tolerance. I understand that just a short while ago, the External Affairs Minister spoke to the Foreign Minister of Norway, Espen Barth Eide, which was also focused on recent developments stemming from the terrorist attack in Pahalgam,” added Misri.
This is an updated version of the report.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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