The North News
New Delhi, May 9
India on Friday accused Pakistan of launching a major coordinated assault involving hundreds of drones and missiles across northern states, while deliberately keeping its airspace open to civilian passenger flights in what Indian officials described as a provocative and dangerous misuse of civil aviation corridors.
The Indian Ministry of Defence said 300 to 400 Turkish-origin SONGAR drones, supported by missile fire, targeted military installations and sensitive zones across Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, and Punjab late Thursday night. Additional drones were detected at the Siachen glacier base in Ladakh and as far west as Gujarat’s Kutch region, suggesting a wide and synchronised operational footprint.
Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, briefing reporters in New Delhi, confirmed that 50 drones were destroyed by air defence units and 20 others were brought down via electronic jamming. She added that many of the UAVs were equipped with surveillance cameras, implying an intent to map Indian military positions and test air defence systems rather than inflict direct kinetic damage.
In a serious escalation, India also said that Pakistan deliberately kept its airspace open to commercial passenger flights during the operation and used those aircraft as a shield for its drone and missile activity. Government officials cited data from flight-tracking application FlightRadar24, showing heavy civilian traffic over Pakistani airspace concurrent with the launch window.
“This is not just a ceasefire violation. This is a calculated misuse of civilian airliners in a combat scenario, which could have led to an international aviation crisis,” a senior Indian government source said, adding that India is preparing a formal complaint to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
Sixteen Indian nationals, including one soldier, were killed during related cross-border shelling and small-arms fire along the Line of Control (LoC). India’s military claimed to have inflicted “heavy damage” on Pakistani positions in retaliation, though details of the counter-strike remain undisclosed.
The drones, believed to be Asisguard SONGAR models, are designed for tactical surveillance and combat missions with a 5km operational range. Their deployment marks the most significant drone-based aggression between the two nuclear-armed nations and is likely to renew scrutiny of Pakistan’s growing procurement of Turkish military technology.
