LAHORE, Pakistan – Pakistan’s air defense system shot down an Indian drone early Thursday in the eastern city of Lahore, according to Pakistani officials, as India evacuated thousands of people from villages near the two countries’ highly militarized frontier in the disputed region of Kashmir.
The drone incident follows Indian missile strikes on Pakistani locations that killed 31 civilians a day earlier, including women and children, according to officials.
Tensions between the two countries have spiked since April 22, when gunmen killed 26 people, mostly Indian Hindu tourists, in India-controlled Kashmir. India accused Pakistan of backing the militants who carried out the attack, something Islamabad has denied.
Local police official Mohammad Rizwan said a drone was downed near Walton Airport, an airfield in a residential area of Lahore that also contains military installations, about 25 kilometers (16 miles) from the border with India.
Local media reported that two additional drones were shot down in other cities of Punjab province, of which Lahore is the capital.
Two security officials said a small Indian drone was taken down by Pakistan’s air defense system. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. It was not immediately clear if the drone was armed.
The incident could not be independently verified, and Indian officials did not immediately comment.
In Punjab’s Chakwal district, a drone cashed into farmland. No casualties were reported. District police chief Ghulam Mohiuddin did not say whose drone it was. Authorities have secured the wreckage and are investigating the drone’s origin and purpose.
India said its strikes Wednesday targeted at least nine sites in Pakistan linked to planning terrorist attacks against India. Some of these targets were in Punjab and most of Wednesday’s casualties were in this province.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed overnight to avenge the killings but gave no details, raising fears of a broader conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
Across the de-facto border in Indian-controlled Kashmir, tens of thousands of people slept in shelters overnight, officials and residents said Thursday.
Indian authorities evacuated civilians from dozens of villages living close to the highly militarized Line of Control overnight while some living in border towns like Uri and Poonch left their homes voluntarily, three police and civil officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with departmental regulations.
AP
