India's Border Security Force (BSF) shot down a Pakistani drone that flew inside Indian territory in the Gurdaspur district of Punjab on Friday morning.
According to BSF DIG, Gurdaspur, Prabhakar Joshi, the drone was shot down at around 4.35 am after troops patrolling the international border in Punjab found it had violated Indian airspace.
"Brave jawans (soldiers) of the BSF spotted a drone coming from Pakistan side. As soon as it entered India, jawans (troops) fired 17 rounds of bullets at it. One of the blades of the drone was damaged. The entire area is being searched. The drone will be analyzed," Prabhakar Joshi told reporters.
However, it wasn't the first instance of a Pakistani drone trying to make an illegal entry into India.
A recent government document suggests that as many as 191 drones from Pakistan have illegally entered India in 2022, leading the armed forces of the country to expedite the deployment of anti-drone systems along the border with its western neighbor.
As per the BSF, Pakistani drones have breached the border on 171 instances in Punjab, 20 UAVs were recorded to have entered India from the Jammu sector.