Security sources confirmed that Pakistan’s air‑defence systems intercepted the drones after they entered Pakistani airspace, bringing down four near the Torkham crossing on the Afghan border and another four in the vicinity of Kohat, according to Dawn.com.
The drones are reported to have been launched by the Afghan Taliban authorities and were allegedly aimed at public areas; recovery teams are collecting the wreckage of the downed aircraft.
The incidents come as tensions along the Pakistan‑Afghanistan frontier have risen following a spate of militant attacks in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and subsequent Pakistani military strikes against militant targets inside Afghanistan.
On Monday, Pakistan announced it had carried out “calibrated” airstrikes against terrorist hideouts and safe havens in Afghanistan, claiming that more than 28 militants were killed in the operation.
The latest confrontation follows a deadly assault on a police facility in Kohat that left 23 people – including security personnel and civilians – dead, with eight attackers killed during a clearance operation.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar raised the issue of cross‑border militancy at an OIC Contact Group meeting on Afghanistan on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, urging the Taliban to take verifiable action against militant sanctuaries and warning that Pakistan reserves the right to respond to threats emanating from Afghan territory in self‑defence under international law.