According to reports, one unidentified Pakistani aircraft was shot down today by Indian Air Force when it had violated the international border in Rajasthan. The aircraft was most probably an unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) of Pakistan military.
After the intruding aircraft was detected by Indian security forces near Bikaner in Rajasthan, Indian Air Force fighter jets were scrambled to intercept it. IAF planes used air to air missile to take down the unidentified aircraft at around 11.30 AM today, sources said. Debris of the aircraft fell on a sand dune on the Pakistani side of the border.
The UAV was detected by Indian Air Defence Radars, and it was shot down by a Sukhoi MKI30 jet using air to air missile. The debris fell at MW Toba in Pakistan.
Rajasthan: At 11:30 am today a Sukhoi 30MKI shot down a Pakistani drone at the Bikaner Nal sector area of the border. Drone was detected by Indian Air Defence radars pic.twitter.com/Ijc4B4XzjN
— ANI (@ANI) March 4, 2019
This is the second time in a week when a Pakistani drone was shot down by IAF near the international border. On February 26, a drone on a reconnaissance mission in India was shot down in Kutch area of Gujarat. The Israeli Spyder air defence system had taken down the drone on that occasion using its Derby missile, marking the first use of the system by India to take down an enemy aircraft. The drone was shot down in Ambasa village in Gujarat. This incident had happened hours after Indian fighter jets had bombed terror camps in Pakistan.
Earlier today there were rumours of an Indian air strike at Fort Abbas in Pakistan, and photos of bombs lying in the sand were circulated as proof of the attack on Social media. But later it was confirmed that no such strike had happened.
On 28th February, Pakistani Air Force had attempted to bomb Indian military bases in Jammu and Kashmir, but that attempt was successfully thwarted by IAF fighters. One F-16 jet was taken down by IAF, while a MiG-21 jet was lost by India in the process.
