Pakistan Claims Shootdowns Of 25 Indian Drones
Pakistan’s military said on Thursday that it had shot down 25 Indian drones launched into Pakistani airspace since Wednesday night.
The Pakistani military’s Inter-Service Public Relations claims that the IAI Harops were brought down using a combination of “soft kill” jamming and “hard kill” shooting down of the drones, saying the drone use was a sign of Indian “worry and panic” and vowing a “befitting reply” to their use.
During a Thursday press conference, ISPR Director General Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said four Pakistani soldiers were injured after a Harop’s impact caused “partial” damage to a Pakistani military facility near Lahore, while another Harop strike killed a civilian and injured another in Miano.
Lt. Gen. Ahmed added that the Pakistani military was in the process of collecting the wreckage of the downed drones, claiming that New Delhi had “lost the plot” after the Indian Air Force’s Operation Sindoor air strikes in the early hours of May 7 “miserably failed”.
New Delhi has confirmed that it did conduct attacks into Pakistan, claiming to have “neutralised” a Pakistani air defense site in Lahore in what it says is its “proportionate response” to overnight Pakistani drone and missile attacks. The Indian military claims to have shot down all incoming drones and missiles in what it said was the combat debut of its Russian made S-400 surface-to-air missile systems, adding that it is also collecting drone and missile wreckage to “prove the Pakistani attacks”.
“Indian Armed Forces reiterate their commitment to non-escalation provided it is respected by the Pakistani military”, concluded their press release.
New Delhi has sought to portray its Operation Sindoor air strikes as a “non-escalatory” response to the April 22 Pahalgam terrorist attack that killed 26 civilians, insisting that none of the nine alleged terror group facilities it struck had any Pakistani military assets near them.