Drones have been sighted at 26 locations from Baramulla in the north to Bhuj in the south, along the International Border and the Line of Control, officials said.
Locations where these sightings were made, include Srinagar, Avantipora, Nagrota, Jammu, Ferozpur, Pathankot, Fazilka, Lalgarh Jatta, Jaisalmer, Barmer, Bhuj, Kuarbet, and Lakhi Nala.
A drone was noticed flying over the Srinagar airport at around 9 pm, prompting a blackout to neutralise the attack, officials said.
The drone was shot down by the military. The explosions, however, sent panic among the locals.
Another drone was shot down near the Awantipora air base in south Kashmir, officials said.
Drone attacks were also foiled in north Kashmir’s Baramulla and Kupwara districts close to some sensitive installations, officials said.
An armed drone, however, succeeded in hitting a civilian area in Punjab’s Ferozpur, resulting in severe injuries to members of a local family, officials said.
The wounded were tended to medically, and the area was sanitised, they said.
Earlier in the evening, blasts were heard and sirens blared in the Jammu region and south Kashmir as many parts of Jammu and Kashmir plunged into darkness, officials said.
Defence officials said drones were also sighted in Jammu, Samba and neighbouring Pathankot district in Punjab, and they were being engaged.
In Srinagar, mosque loudspeakers were used to convey to locals to switch off their lights as a precautionary measure.
Officials said drones were also engaged in Udhampur and Nagrota of Jammu and Punjab.
Tension between the two neighbours soared after the Indian Armed Forces on Wednesday conducted precision strikes targeting terror launchpads in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in response to the April 22 attack by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed. PTI MIJ SKL VN VN