Pakistan shoots down 25 drones, India says it pushed back retaliation

Pakistan said on Thursday it shot down 25 drones from India in its airspace while India said it "neutralised" Pakistan's attempts to strike military targets with drones and missiles, as fighting spread between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

Pakistan shot down 25 Israeli-made drones from India at multiple locations, including the two largest cities Rawalpindi and Lahore, and their debris is being collected, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) spokesperson General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said.

The ISPR said in a statement that the drones were shot down using both electronic countermeasures (soft-kill techniques) and conventional weaponry (hard-kill systems) after they were detected over multiple areas across Pakistan.

A damaged portion of an administration block at the Government Health and Education complex, after it was hit by an Indian strike, in Muridke. Reuters

The ISPR termed the drone incursions a desperate and panicked response by India, coming after Pakistan's retaliatory operations on May 6 and 7, which downed five Indian fighter jets and struck several military posts.

According to the ISPR, the debris from the Israeli-origin drones is being recovered from various locations within Pakistan. It further said that India has suffered substantial losses along the Line of Control (LoC) in recent days.

"The Pakistan Armed Forces are responding decisively to all hostile actions and continue to thwart enemy intentions," the ISPR statement read.

ISPR Director General Chaudhry said that Pakistan armed forces intercepted and neutralised 12 Indian drones across multiple locations.

He said at a news briefing that on May 7 and 8, Indian drones attempted intrusions in various parts of the country. "India last night took yet another blatant military act of aggression against Pakistan by sending Hrap drones at multiple locations," he said.

A police officer stands at the site where according to the Crime Scene Unit, a drone was brought down, on the outskirts of Karachi. Reuters

The drones were successfully neutralised in Lahore, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi, Chakwal, Bahawalpur, Mianwali, Karachi, and Attock, he said and added that the 13th drone partially struck a military target near Lahore which caused minimal damage to equipment.

"Four Pakistan Army personnel were injured in a drone attack in Lahore, while one civilian was martyred in Miano, Sindh," he said and termed the attempts as a continued pattern of aggression and affirmed that Pakistan's forces remain on high alert to defend the country's airspace and territorial integrity.

Referring to the destruction of five of Indian aircraft by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), the ISPR chief said that India "apparently lost the plot" and suffered heavy casualties along the LoC.

Gen Chaudhry said that the international community can clearly witness the dangerous trajectory India is following through these provocative military actions, which are threatening not just regional stability but also broader global security.