IAF shoots down Pakistani drone on Rajasthan border

IAF shoots down Pakistani drone on Rajasthan border

Sukhoi Su-30 fighter aircraft. (File Photo: IANS/DPRO)

New Delhi/Jaipur, March 4 (IANS) An Indian Air Force Su-30 MKI on Monday shot down a Pakistani Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in the Nal sector on the International Border in Rajasthan today morning, sources said.

The Sukhoi-30MKI reportedly brought down the drone by using an air-to-air missile soon after it was detected by Indian radars, sources said. The debris of the missile reportedly fell inside Pakistan at Fort Abbas, near Bahawalpur, where proscribed terrorist Jaish-e-Mohammed's headquarters is located, sources said.

However, it was later clarified that these were extra fuel tanks dropped by PAF fighters on patrol. Fort Abbas is located close to Rajasthan border.

Meanwhile looking at the debris, panic buttons were pressed in Pakistan. Even speculation of the air strike 2 went viral on Pakistani twitter users.

Sources confirmed that this was the second drone which attempted to violate the Indian air space. On Feb 27, another Pakistani drone had tried air space violation in Anupgarh. However, it didn't come close, and hovered on Indian borders reportedly with an aim to divert the attention of Indian forces. "Later they intruded into Indian territories through J&K's Nowshera the same day. So this time, when we saw a UAV, we scrambled and shot it down," confirmed a source.

Earlier in the day, IAF chief B.S. Dhanoa had claimed that the operations were still going on as he refused to go into details about the aerial engagement between the two forces.

Sources said that the forces continued to be on high state of alert and that the air defence systems are manned to deal with any eventuality.

--IANS

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