Bid to target military installations in Rajasthan foiled, drones intercepted

Pakistan tried to target five military installations across Rajasthan with drones, which were intercepted and destroyed mid-air, amid heightened hostilities following India’s cross-border air strikes in response to the Pahalgam terror attack.

People aware of the matter said the debris of one of the downed drones was recovered near Suli Dungar in Jaisalmer. The Army secured the wreckage for investigation. Two drones were shot down near the Ramgarh area of Jaisalmer around 4:30am on Friday.

Police and the Indian Air Force personnel recovered a bomb early Friday in a residential area in Jaisalmer’s Kishangarh. Initial probe suggested it may have been dropped during Thursday night’s drone assault, which began around 9pm.

Pakistani forces deployed a “swarm attack,” directing multiple drones toward military installations in Jaisalmer and Pokaran. The Indian Army said it responded swiftly to neutralise the threat before it could inflict damage.

A day earlier, Pakistan attempted similar attacks against military targets,

including in Nal, Phalodi, and Uttarlai in Rajasthan, prompting a high alert. As a precautionary measure, authorities enforced a blackout for nine hours from 9pm on Thursday to 6am on Friday. Schools in parts of Rajasthan remain closed. Some train services were cancelled. The leaves of government officials have been cancelled.

Police set up checkpoints across the border district of Jaisalmer and deployed armed personnel. Entry was allowed only after verification of identification documents as part of heightened surveillance to monitor suspicious activity.

In neighbouring Punjab, the authorities enforced blackouts in Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Bathinda, Muktsar, Fazilka, Ferozepur, and Moga districts early Friday and issued a series of advisories asking people to exercise caution against the backdrop of Pakistan’s attacks since Thursday, despite India’s warning against any escalation.

In Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), a 40-year-old woman was killed and five others injured as Pakistani troops resorted to heavy artillery along the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto India-Pakistan border in the region, and drone and missile attacks on Jammu, Udhampur, Samba, Akhnoor, RS Pura until early Friday. The Indian armed forces foiled the attacks.

The fresh attacks came even as India on Thursday night repelled multiple strikes across the western border. A blackout was clamped across a swathe of the border overnight as Pakistan stepped up hostilities.

The drone and missile strikes on military sites came after India thwarted Pakistani attacks on 15 places Wednesday night. It marked the worst India-Pakistan face-off in decades and sparked fears of a full-blown war.

Eight Pakistani missiles were intercepted in Jammu’s Satwari, Samba, RS Pura, and Arnia. India’s S400 air defence system shot down missiles at multiple places along the western border on Thursday. Military stations in Jammu, Pathankot, Udhampur, and Jalandhar were also attacked with drones and missiles.

The defence ministry said the threats were swiftly neutralised using kinetic and non-kinetic capabilities in line with standard operating procedures. No casualties or material losses were reported.

Missiles and drones were neutralised in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer and Gujarat’s Kutch as air raid sirens blared, and blackouts were imposed from Jammu to Jaisalmer and Amritsar to Chandigarh on Thursday. The situation prompted authorities to announce the closure of schools in the border areas of J&K, Punjab, and Rajasthan.