An American surveillance drone crashed in Balochistan near a paramilitary base close to the Afghan border on Thursday, officials said. “It was an American surveillance unmanned aerial vehicle. It crashed on this side of the border,” a security official in the area said.
He said the drone, four-meters wide and three-meters long and having two cameras, had come down apparently due to a technical fault, some two kilometres inside Chaman, but had caused no damage. He denied that Pakistani forces had shot down the aircraft, but expressed concern over the intrusion.
The official said the wreckage of the aircraft had been taken into custody by the Frontier Corps (FC). Residents of the area said the spy aircraft was in the air from 5pm and crashed after remaining airborne for two hours. “We witnessed the aircraft since 5pm, but could not judge whether it was inside Pakistani or Afghan airspace. However, we think it was brought down when it entered into Pakistani territory,” a local, Atta Muhammad, said.
The army confirmed the crash of the drone inside Pakistani border, with a spokesman of the ISPR saying the unidentified surveillance drone crashed 2 kilometres inside the Chaman border. “The wreckage has been recovered and the matter is under investigation to furnish details of the incident,” the spokesman said in a brief statement.
