India on Friday issued a statement acknowledging that on 9 March 2022, in the course of routine maintenance, a technical malfunction led to the accidental firing of a missile that unfortunately landed in an area of Pakistan. Fortunately, there has been no loss of life due to the accident.
The Government of India has taken a serious view and ordered a high-level Court of Enquiry, said the Defence Ministry.
On 9 March 2022, in the course of routine maintenance, a technical malfunction led to the accidental firing of a missile. The Government of India has taken a serious view and ordered a high-level Court of Enquiry: Ministry of Defence
— ANI (@ANI) March 11, 2022
It is learnt that the missile landed in an area of Pakistan. While the incident is deeply regrettable, it is also a matter of relief that there has been no loss of life due to the accident, added the statement.
Pakistan claims unarmed Indian missile landed on its soil
On Thursday, March 10, the Pakistani Army claimed that a ‘missile’ from India was launched from Hisar, violated the Pakistani airspace and fell in Mian Channu city in Khanewal district of the Punjab province of Pakistan. The incident allegedly took place on Wednesday (March 9) evening.
As per the Pakistani army’s DGISPR, the missile was without a warhead and had come close to civilian airlines, and had come over 124 km inside Pakistan. General Major Babar Iftikhar stated “It was a supersonic flying object, most probably a missile, but it was certainly unarmed. When it fell, it damaged civilian properties.”
DG ISPR alleged that the ‘flying object’ travelled 124 km from Sirsa in India to land in Mian Channu city of Pakistan. Genera Babar, however, made it clear that the flying object was not shot down and that it fell on its own.
There were no human casualties. While there were no sensitive installations in the area where it landed, a wall did fall, the Pakistan military said.
