Surveillance drone shot down by Army in Kashmir
STATE TIMES NEWS
Jammu: Pakistani troops violated ceasefire by resorting to unprovoked firing and mortar shelling in three sectors along the Line of Control (LoC) and the International Border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Saturday.
The Indian Army and the Border Security Force (BSF) retaliated effectively, they said.
“At about 6.30 pm (on Saturday), Pakistan initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation by firing with small arms and shelling mortars along the LoC in the Degwar sector in Poonch district, a defence spokesman said.
He said the Indian Army retaliated befittingly and the cross-border shelling between the two sides was going on when last reports were received.
Pakistani Rangers also fired on forward posts and villages in Rajpurian in the Ghagwal sector of Samba district and Faqeera and Manyari in the Hiranagar sector along the IB in Kathua district, a police official said.
He said firing from across the border in Rajpurian started around 2 am.
The exchange of fire between Pakistani Rangers and the BSF continued till 3.45 am, the spokesman said.
In Kathua district, Pakistani Rangers resorted to firing around 10.30 pm on Friday which continued till 4.30 am, he said.
However, there was no report of any casualty on the Indian side in the firing from across the border, the officials said.
Meanwhile, a surveillance drone of Chinese make was shot down by Army troops shortly after it crossed into this side of the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara district, officials said.
The DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone, fitted with cameras, was spotted hovering in air by the alert troops in Keran sector and subsequently shot down, the officials said. They said the drone was seized and further investigation is on.
There has been a spurt in the use of drones from Pakistani side over the past few months to smuggle arms and narcotics.
Earlier in June, an attempt to drop weapons through drone was scuttled by BSF personnel when they shot down a Hexa-copter with a payload of five-and-a-half kgs including a sophisticated US-made M4 semi-automatic carbine and seven Chinese grenades along the International border in Kathua district.
