Drone attack on Jammu airbase: Two blasts

(PTI) New Delhi, Dt

The first drone strike on an air force station at Pakistan-based militants' Jammu airport has put security agencies to sleep from Jammu and Kashmir to Delhi. The Center had recently convened a meeting with 12 leaders of eight major local parties to hold assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir after the new delimitation. At such a time, terrorists have shocked the Indian government by launching drone strikes. The Pakistan-based militants dropped two bombs on the air force station six minutes apart at around 1.30 pm on Saturday-Sunday night. An FIR was registered for the attack. The investigation of this case has been handed over to the NIA. The air distance from Jammu Airport to the international border of Pakistan is 15 km. It is suspected that the plot was hatched in Pakistan due to its remoteness.

Two Air Force personnel were injured in two blasts at the Jammu airport late Saturday-Sunday at 1.30 pm in six minutes. The first attack shattered the roof of a one-storey building in the Air Force's high-security technical area in Jammu's Satwari area while the second blast took place in an open area. A team from the NIA's anti-terror investigation agency has reached the spot and is conducting an investigation. Jammu and Kashmir Police Chief Dilbag Singh said the attack on the air force station in Jammu was a terrorist attack.

It was not immediately clear where the drone strike took place and investigators are trying to find a way for the drone to take off. Investigators examined CCTV footage, including a camera mounted on the airport's boundary wall, to find out where the drones came from. However, the drones were not captured in any of the footage, as all CCTV footage showed footage. Both drones are also suspected to have been launched near the Jammu airbase.

The incident suggests that radars deployed at the border to keep a close eye on enemy movements cannot detect drones. As a result, we have to set up a different kind of radar system that can detect even a drone as small as a bird, sources said.

The air distance from Jammu airport to the international border of Pakistan is only 15 km. It is suspected that the plot was hatched in Pakistan. Officials said the two drones detonated explosives at an Air Force station at night and were heading across the border or into another location. Another major attack plot was foiled while investigators were investigating the drone attack. A man involved with Lashkar-e-Toiba was arrested with six kilograms of IED. The man wanted to detonate an IED in the crowd. The suspect has been detained and is being questioned, DGP Dilbag Singh said.

More suspects are likely to be arrested in the failed IED attack attempt. The office of Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said that after the attack, Vice Air Chief Air Marshal H.P. S. Aurora rushed to the scene. The attackers targeted Air Force helicopters in the technical area of ​​the Air Force station. The attack was as serious as the Pathankot attack. A TV news channel quoted GDP as saying that the conspiracy to carry out the attack was hatched across the border from Pakistan and was carried out within the country carrying out the conspiracy. Police, the Air Force and other agencies are investigating the attack. A high-level meeting of senior police officers and Indian Air Force officials was held at the Air Force station after the attack, sources said. A team of various investigating agencies, including the Air Force and the NIA, has reached the spot.

According to sources, if the terrorist attack on the Indian Air Force airbase is confirmed, it will raise questions over the country's security. For the first time in the country, there is a threat of an attack on a safe institution through a drone. Pak conspiracy to send arms from Pakistan through drones has been caught several times. Several Pakistani drones have crashed in Hiranagar and Samba districts near Jammu with weapons.

Similar to Jammu, there was a fidayeen attack in Pathankot in 2016. The bomber struck shortly after noon in front of a Pakistani military base. During the attack in Pathankot, Punjab on January 8, 2016, there was a clash with the militants for 3 hours, in which 4 jawans were martyred while 6 militants were killed.

Suspicion of using P-16 drone in attack

The technical area of ​​the Air Force has been sealed off after the attack on the Air Force station in Jammu. The forensic team has reached the spot and started investigation. The Air Force said no equipment was damaged in the attack. However, a P-16 drone is believed to have been used in the attack. This drone can fly a lot. So many times it doesn’t get caught on the radar. However, there is no official word on the use of the P-17 drone, sources said.