Pakistan military says it shot down 25 Israeli-made drones launched by India
One drone hits military target near the eastern city of Lahore, causing damage and wounding soldiers; debris from others said being recovered
Pakistan’s military said it shot down 25 Indian drones across the country on Thursday, including some that fell near sensitive military installations.
“Pakistan Armed Forces have so far shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones,” it said in a statement.
“Debris of Israeli-made Harop drones is being recovered from various areas across Pakistan,” it added.
The Harop, manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries, is a loitering munition that can fly to targets and then attack by crashing into them on command from the operator, destroying itself in the process.
Earlier, the Pakistani military said air defense said one drone attacked a military target near the eastern city of Lahore, causing damage and wounding soldiers.
India sent Israeli Harop drones to multiple locations, including the two largest cities of Karachi and Lahore, and their debris is being collected, Pakistan military spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said.
“Indian drones continue to be sent into Pakistan airspace…(India) will continue to pay dearly for this naked aggression,” he said.
Looks like India has retaliated to murderous firing on civilians along the border. Sometime today our Harop drones targeted high value sites (most probably air defence missile launchers) in and around Lahore. Remember they lobbed large calibre rockets at us last night. pic.twitter.com/QFRFYe0WW1
— Abhijit Iyer-Mitra (@Iyervval) May 8, 2025
India’s defense ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It follows Indian missile strikes on Pakistani locations that killed 31 civilians one day earlier, including women and children, according to officials.
Meanwhile, India evacuated thousands of people from villages near the two countries’ highly militarized frontier in the disputed region of Kashmir.
Tensions between the two countries have spiked since April 22, when gunmen killed 26 people, mostly Indian Hindu tourists, in India-controlled Kashmir. India accused Pakistan of backing the gunmen who carried out the attack, something Islamabad has denied.
Drones shot down in Pakistan
Spokesman Sharif said an Indian drone wounded four soldiers and partially damaged a military target near Lahore overnight, while the country’s air defense system intercepted and shot down 12 Indian drones that entered Pakistani airspace at various locations. He gave no further details about the attack.
He added that in southern Sindh province, one civilian was killed and another wounded when debris from downed drones fell in a populated area.
#BREAKING: Using both soft kill (technical) and hard kill (weapons) methods, Pakistan Armed Forces have successfully shot down 25 #Israeli-made Harop drones — ISPR. pic.twitter.com/2aN9nD88FL
— Defence Pakistan (@Defence_PK99) May 8, 2025
The incidents could not be independently verified, and Indian officials did not immediately comment.
In Lahore, local police official Mohammad Rizwan said a drone was downed near Walton Airport, an airfield in a residential area about 25 kilometers (16 miles) from the border with India that also contains military installations.
Local media reported that two additional drones were shot down in other cities of Punjab province, of which Lahore is the capital.
In Punjab’s Chakwal district, a drone crashed into farmland. No casualties were reported. District police chief Ghulam Mohiuddin did not say whose drone it was. Authorities have secured the wreckage and are investigating the drone’s origin and purpose.
India said its strikes on Wednesday targeted at least nine sites in Pakistan linked to planning terrorist attacks against India. Some of these targets were in Punjab, and most of Wednesday’s casualties were in this province.
In addition to use by the Israeli military, a number of countries have reportedly bought, or intend to buy, Harlop drones, including India and Azerbaijan, the last of which has used them in battles against Armenia. Not all of the sales have been made public.
Fears of escalating conflict
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed overnight to avenge the killings but gave no details, raising fears of a broader conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
Across the de facto border in Indian-controlled Kashmir, tens of thousands of people slept in shelters overnight, officials and residents said Thursday.
Indian authorities evacuated civilians from dozens of villages living close to the highly militarized Line of Control overnight, while some living in border towns like Uri and Poonch left their homes voluntarily, three police and civil officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with departmental regulations.
India’s foreign ministry said that 13 civilians were killed and 59 wounded the previous day during exchanges of fire across the de facto border. An Indian soldier was also killed by shelling Wednesday, according to the Indian army.
Iranian foreign minister will meet Indian officials
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in India’s capital on Wednesday night for a pre-scheduled visit. He was scheduled to meet his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar later Thursday and the duo will co-chair a joint forum on economic cooperation.
Iran has offered to mediate between India and Pakistan, and Araghchi was in Pakistan on Monday to meet top leaders as part of that effort.
The Times of Israel Community.