Pakistan summons Indian envoy after ‘spy drone’ shot down

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan summoned the Indian ambassador Thursday after a “spy drone” was shot down in disputed Kashmir, as officials said five people were killed in cross-border shelling between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.

The flare-up between the two countries, who have fought three wars since 1947, comes days after their prime ministers met in Russia in an apparent sign of a thaw in relations.
The Pakistani military said Wednesday that troops had shot down “an Indian spy drone used for aerial photography” close to the de facto border in Kashmir.
A picture in Pakistani media purportedly of the downed drone showed a small lightweight model of a type widely available for commercial purchase.
The Indian Army and Air Force both denied any of their drones had been shot down or had crashed, according to a Press Trust of India report.
Following the incident, Pakistan’s foreign ministry hauled in the Indian high commissioner, or ambassador, to hear a “strong protest over airspace violation,” a statement said.
Islamabad, Delhi trade blame as clashes kill 5
India and Pakistan traded blame on Thursday for a series of firefights and shelling over the past two days along their border in the disputed Kashmir region that killed five civilians and wounded nine people.
On Thursday, four civilians were killed and five were wounded in artillery fire that struck Pakistani villages near the eastern city of Sialkot, and Islamabad said the archrival neighbor was responsible for the casualties.
India’s paramilitary Border Security Force, meanwhile, blamed Pakistan for shooting at an Indian border post and for firing mortar shells that landed in a border village on Wednesday, killing one woman and wounding four people, including a soldier at a border post.
A 2003 cease-fire between has largely held despite small but regular skirmishes, which the two sides routinely blame on one another.