New Delhi/Islamabad: A series of blasts were heard across nine Pakistani cities on Thursday morning after they were allegedly targeted by Indian ‘kamikaze drones’, also known as ‘loitering munitions’.
Pakistan’s Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) confirmed the explosions and claimed that India’s Heron Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) were involved. According to Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif, DG, ISPR: “The targeted locations include Lahore, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Chakwal, Attock, Bahawalpur, Mianwali, Chhor, and Karachi. The Army has neutralized the drones.”
Pakistan’s Air Defence units of HQ-9 air defence missile launchers have suffered heavy damage due to the attack. In Karachi, a blast was reported in the Sharafi Goth area. There were several more explosions in the surrounding areas, the Pakistani media has said.
Lt Gen Sharif made sweeping allegations, claiming that 12 Heron drones targeted nine locations. This is a fake narrative as most of the Israeli-made Herons procured by India are surveillance drones. Only four Heron Mark-II drones of the Indian Air Force (IAF) are capable of carrying missiles or other armaments.
Reports suggest that India used attack or ‘kamikaze’ drones for these attacks that were a retaliation to Pakistan’s failed missile strike on Indian cities early on Thursday. Pakistan had clearly attempted to replicate Op Sindoor – a high-precision missile strike on nine terror establishments in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) in the wee hours of Wednesday that destroyed the targets and killed nearly 100 terrorists.
Pakistan’s missiles, launched exactly 24-hours later, were intercepted by India’s missile defence systems and destroyed.
After Thursday’s blasts at the Pakistani cities, residents were advised to remain indoors, with security forces cordoning off the affected areas. Metal fragments from the scene are being inspected. Rescue and law enforcement teams are on a standby.
India launched Operation Sindoor in response to the killing of 26 persons, most of them tourists from across the country, by terrorists in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, on April 22. Investigations had revealed that the attack was masterminded in Pakistan. At least two of the terrorists directly involved in the attack were also Pakistanis, it has been confirmed.
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