Asia

Pakistan Army Claims to Have Shot Down Second Indian Spy Drone in Two Days

The first such incident took place on Tuesday; the event was dismissed by the Indian Army as "plain propaganda".
Sputnik

According to the Pakistan Army's press service, Pakistan shot down a second "Indian spy quadcopter" on Wednesday, just a day after shooting down another. The drones were flying over the Pakistani side of the Line of Control (the de-facto border between the countries), it said.  

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"Pakistan Army troops shot down another Indian spy quadcopter. The quadcopter was destroyed in Satwal Sector," Major General Asif Ghafoor, the director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations, the Pakistan Army's press service, tweeted. 

Meanwhile, soldiers from India and Pakistan have been engaged in a heavy exchange of gunfire on the Line of Control for the last two days.

'Indian Spy Quadcopter' Shot Down at Border - Pakistan Military
Indian defence sources allege that the Pakistani Army had initiated unprovoked and indiscriminate firing using small arms, automatic weapons, and mortars from 10.45 am (Indian Standard Time) onwards two days ago along the de-facto border between the two nations.

While the exchange of fire continued until the evening in Gulpur, Pakistani troops allegedly opened fire from another location against the Indian side, the third such incidence of a ceasefire violation by Pakistan in two days, Indian defence sources added.

READ MORE: Indian Army Claims to Have Killed 2 Pakistani Intruders in Jammu & Kashmir

Pakistan, on the other hand, has held that it was the Indian Army that initiated the ceasefire violations through unprovoked firing. According to media reports, Pakistan's government had summoned India's Acting Deputy High Commissioner in Islamabad on December 31 and "condemned the unprovoked ceasefire violations by the Indian forces along the Line of Control."

Relations between the two South Asian neighbours have been historically tense, with both of them accusing each other of ceasefire violations on the disputed border.

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