The Pakistan Army on Saturday claimed that it shot down a “spying” Indian quadcopter in Rakhchikri Sector along the Line of Control. Pakistan Army spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor claimed on Twitter that the chopper intruded 150 metres inside Pakistani territory.
The Indian Air Force uses quadcopters for aerial photography of Pakistani posts along the Line of Control for intelligence-gathering operations, Dawn reported, citing sources in the Pakistani military.
An Indian Air Force Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft shot down a Pakistani drone in the Bikaner Nal sector near the international border in Rajasthan on March 4. India had shot down another Pakistani drone along the border in Gujarat’s Kutch on February 27.
Tensions between India and Pakistan have run high since the terrorist attack on a Central Reserve Police Force convoy in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district on February 14. The Indian Air Force had conducted strikes on Balakot in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on February 26, targeting a Jaish-e-Mohammad camp.
In response, Pakistani F-16 jets violated the Line of Control on February 27, and engaged in combat with Indian aircraft. The Pakistani jets shot down a MiG-21 Bison plane and captured a pilot, Abhinandan Varthaman, who was returned to India on March 1. India shot down a Pakistani F-16, which landed in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
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