Three suspected drones seen in Jammu, Amry says 'nothing objectionable found so far'

jammu drone — Image Source : PTI
Army personnel on high alert after two drones were noticed hovering over Ratnuchak-Kaluchak military station area on Sunday night in Jammu on June 28.

Three suspected drones were spotted again at three different locations in Jammu on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday. According to locals, the first drone was seen in Kaluchak cantonment area. The second was spotted in Ratnuchak cantonment area and the third in Kunjwani area.

All the unmanned aerial vehicles were spotted between 1:30 AM and 4 AM, according to media reports. Army officials, however, said that they have not spotted any suspicious object and that officials are monitoring the situation along with the support of the local police.

Earlier on Monday, a fresh attempt to target a military installation in Jammu with drones was foiled by alert soldiers. Army sentries at the Ratnuchak-Kaluchak military station in Jammu fired at the two drones that later disappeared, an incident that came hours after the nearby IAF station witnessed the first terror attack using quadcopters.

The first drone was spotted at around 11.45 pm on Sunday followed by another at 2.40 am the next day. Officials said on Monday that alert Army troops fired nearly two dozen rounds in a bid to bring down the drones hovering over the Brigade headquarters of the military station.

Meanwhile, the whole area outside the military station was cordoned off immediately and a massive search operation was going on. Nothing objectionable has been found on the ground so far.

Before that, two unmanned aerial vehicles targetted an Indian Air Force (IAF) station, indicating the possible use of a cocktail of chemicals including RDX in the first of its kind incident in the country. Investigators were yet to determine the flight path of the drones that dropped two bombs at the IAF station in the early hours of Sunday, causing minor injuries to two IAF personnel.

Officials said the drones that dropped the explosive material at the technical area of Jammu airport in the outskirts of the city were either flown back across the border or to some other destination during the night. The aerial distance from the Jammu airport to the international border is 14 km.

The IAF attack is the first instance of suspected Pakistan-based terrorists deploying drones to strike at the country's vital installations.

The explosions took place around 1.40 am on Sunday within six minutes of each other. The first blast ripped off the roof of a single-storey building at the technical area of the airport manned by the IAF in Satwari area on the outskirts of the city. The second one was on the ground.