At least four drones were seen flying over military installations in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday between 7:10 p.m. and 8:45 p.m., people familiar with the matter said.
Drones have been spotted repeatedly in the area since June 27, when a drone was used to target the Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Jammu with explosives last month. The explosives left two injured.
An official said the first unidentified flying object on Thursday was spotted by guards at a military post. The object was seen moving from Nagrota to Jammu. “Another suspicious flying object with constant white light was observed over Kharian garrison at 8:10 pm. After flying over, it turned south towards Indreshwar Nagar in the Miran Sahib area of RS Pura sector, ”the official said on condition of anonymity.
He added that the device was flying at a height of 700 to 800 meters above the ground and that no sound was heard. Another suspicious drone with a flashing white light was spotted at 8:15 p.m. above a military post in Nandpur in Arnia in the Jammu district. “The 17 Garhwal troops in Nandpur Tibba fired eight rounds at the flying object which was flying at a height of about 250 meters above ground level. It was spotted for about a minute,” the official said. .
The flying object would have come from Arnia and moved towards Jammu. Nandpur is about eight to nine km from the Indo-Pakistan border.
A similar flashing light was observed over Satwari garrison around 8:45 p.m. The object moved from west to east towards Satwari Chowk in the city of Jammu.
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Vivek Singh, a resident of Hiranagar in the Kathua district, spotted a drone around 8:45 p.m. He videotaped the object on his mobile and handed the clip to the police for investigation.
At least two drones were also seen flying near Samba garrison on Thursday evening, prompting soldiers to shoot at them.
The June 27 attack on the air force station was the first such case where suspected terrorists based in Pakistan deployed unmanned aerial vehicles to strike vital facilities in India. The National Investigation Agency is investigating the case.
Police in Jammu and Kashmir believe the drones are coming from across the border.
Drones were seen flying over military posts in Jammu for four consecutive days after the June 27 attack.
Border Security Forces troops also fired at a suspected Pakistani drone along the Indo-Pakistan border in Arnia on Tuesday. Another drone was spotted Wednesday evening at Pallanwala in Akhnoor.
There have been several incidents of Pakistan-based terrorists using drones in the border areas of Jammu and Kashmir to drop weapons, ammunition, drugs and money to fuel terrorism in the region.
At least 300 drones have been sighted along the border with Pakistan since 2019.
