India, Pakistan trade fire as tensions flare

India and Pakistan accused each other on Thursday of carrying out waves of drone attacks, as deadly confrontations between the South Asian neighbours drew global calls for calm.

- 

Pakistan's army said it shot down 29 Indian drones, while New Delhi accused Islamabad of launching overnight raids with “drones and missiles", and claimed it destroyed an air defence system in Lahore.

“Pakistan attempted to engage a number of military targets... using drones and missiles,” India’s defence ministry said in a statement Thursday, adding that “these were neutralised.”

The defence ministry said earlier its military had “targeted air defence radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan,” adding it had been “reliably learnt that an air defence system at Lahore has been neutralised.”

India fired several Israeli-made Harop drones at Pakistan overnight and into Thursday afternoon, according to Pakistani army spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmad Sharif, who said 29 were shot down.

Two civilians were killed and another wounded when debris from a downed drone fell in Sindh province.

One drone damaged a military site near the city of Lahore and wounded four soldiers, and another fell in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, near the capital, according to Sharif.

The drones were successfully neutralised in Lahore, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi, Chakwal, Bahawalpur, Mianwali, Karachi, and Attock, he said.