Drone Attacks with Israeli Harop UAVs in Multiple Pakistani Cities

Drone strikes in Lahore, Attock, Gujranwala, Chakwal, Rawalpindi, Bahawalpur, Mianwali, Chor, and Karachi which have been “neutralised”, with one hitting Lahore injuring 4 soldiers and killing one civilian, Pakistan Army said today.

The media wing of the Pakistan Army, said in a statement that the armed forces have "so far" shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones "using both soft kill (electronic) and hard kill (kinetic) countermeasures."

However, there is no response from New Delhi on the drone attacks unlike the midnight missile attacks yesterday which it said was intended to hit terrorist targets.

The situation follows Indian missile strikes a day earlier that killed 31 people and injured 57 in different Pakistani cities, with New Delhi calling it a response to an April 22 attack in the Kashmir region that left 26 tourists dead and which it blamed on terrorists based out of Pakistan.

New Delhi said it had targeted “terrorist infrastructure” across Pakistan, while Islamabad condemned the strikes as a violation of sovereignty and said it had shot down five Indian fighter jets, a claim that is yet to be verified.

“On the night of 7th and 8th May, India has undertaken yet another blatant military act of aggression against Pakistan by sending Harop drones at multiple locations,” military spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said in a televised statement. “Pakistan Armed Forces being in a high state of alert and vigilance has so far neutralized 12 Harop drones at various locations,”

He described the situation as a “serious provocation,” urging the international community to note that India was escalating the conflict “in a highly charged environment.”

Earlier in the day, police reported a civilian casualty in the southern Sindh province, also confirmed by Chaudhry, when a drone crashed in Sarfaraz Leghari village, located in Ghotki district.

Indications of a possible Pakistani retaliation emerged as the Pakistani government ordered Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad airports “to remain closed until 6pm (13:00 GMT) on May 8”, the Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement citing “operational reasons.”