Terror attack foiled: Drone shot down in Jammu

Jammu : According to Jammu and Kashmir Police, they have foiled a major terror attempt by Jaish-e-Mohammed from Pakistan by shooting down an IED-fitted drone in Akhnoor on Friday. Mukesh Singh, the Jammu ADGP, confirmed that the threads found on this drone matched the threads found on the flying object used in the twin explosion at Jammu Air Force Station on June 27, which injured two IAF personnel.

The hexacopter (six-winged) was fitted with a GPS and flight controller. While addressing a press conference, ADGP Singh revealed that the vehicle was loaded with 5kg of ready-to-use IEDs, which could be triggered by assembling the wires. The flight controller used in the hexacopter had a serial number that was just one digit different from a drone earlier shot down in Akhnoor, he explained.

In response to information received that Jaish-e-Mohammad would use a drone to drop a payload near Akhnoor, a team rushed to the area and began surveillance. ‘Around 1am, the team was alerted to the activity of a flying object. The cops shot it down just as it was about to drop its payload,’ ADGP Singh said.

In Gurah Pattan village, about 10-12ft from the Jammu-Akhnoor national highway, a drone was shot down around 8km from the international border. Someone was supposed to collect the payload. ‘We waited for the suspect, but he never showed up,’ the ADGP said. The hexacopter was assembled and parts were found to be made in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Regarding the connection between the drone incidents in J&K, the ADGP said, ‘It appears that Jaish has assembled many such drones of the same series’. An investigation is underway.

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Drones recovered in the recent past dropped payloads including AK-47 rifles and IED material. ADGP Singh said that a drone can travel up to 20 kilometers depending on its payload. He added that there have been 16 AK-47 rifles, numerous magazines, 15 grenades and 18 IEDs air-dropped from Pakistan recovered by J&K Police since April 2016.