Eight drones downed after alleged intrusion into Pakistan’s airspace: security sources

ISLAMABAD: Eight drones allegedly entered Pakistan’s airspace from Afghanistan on Wednesday morning and were shot down by the country’s air defence system, security sources said.

According to the sources, Pakistan’s armed forces and Pakistan Air Force intercepted all eight drones after they entered Pakistani territory.

Four drones were brought down in areas adjoining the Torkham border, while four others were shot down in mountainous areas near the border adjoining Kohat, the sources said.

The sources claimed the incident was another indication of what they described as direct support and patronage of militants by the Afghan Taliban regime.

They said the armed forces and Pakistan Air Force had professionally thwarted what they described as an attempt to target public places in Pakistan.

The development comes a day after Pakistani forces reportedly destroyed several Afghan Taliban positions and hideouts in the Kurram sector in response to what security sources described as provocative firing.

The security sources said Pakistan’s armed forces remained fully prepared to defend the country and its people.

Drone threat requires coordinated response, says defence analyst

Speaking to Hum News, Defence analyst Col (retd) Abid Latif has described the growing use of drones along Pakistan’s western border as an emerging security challenge, saying the country’s air defence system has demonstrated its ability to neutralise such threats.

Latif said drones had increasingly become a tool in the terrorism campaign along the western border. He claimed some drones were being transported from India to Afghanistan in disassembled form, where they were reassembled and subsequently used.

“For the past few years, we have continuously seen this vector being used in the terrorism war, especially along the western border, and that vector is the drone,” he said.

Latif said Pakistan’s air defence system had recently neutralised drones that entered its territory, describing the response as a message that the armed forces remained fully alert.

“Whether it is troops on the ground, soldiers operating air defence equipment or our Air Force, all are alert and ready,” he said. “If any threat perception is created, it will be responded to within the same context and matrix.”

Drone incursions can create strategic pressure

Latif said drones could be used to create psychological and strategic pressure even if their immediate physical impact was limited.

“Their effect may or may not be significant, but crossing territory and creating pressure, and then building a threat through that pressure, is something that must be countered,” he said.

He also alleged that India was supporting efforts to use drone technology against Pakistan and said negative narratives were subsequently built around Pakistan’s security measures.

Latif described the evolving security environment as part of “grey-zone warfare”, in which states use or support non-state actors to create instability without direct conventional confrontation.

“When you feed a proxy, it becomes hydra-headed; it becomes a Frankenstein that is no longer under your control,” he said.

He argued that the threat was no longer limited to Pakistan, claiming other countries bordering Afghanistan were also concerned about militant activity and potential instability.

“This is not just a threat to Pakistan; it is a global threat because the agendas of these organisations are global,” Latif said.

He added that Russia, China and Iran had also expressed concerns about Afghanistan, while warning that prolonged instability could eventually lead to wider regional fragmentation.