Pakistan confirms shooting down Iranian drone

By Islamuddin Sajid
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AA) - Pakistan Wednesday confirmed that the country’s air force shot down an Iranian unmanned aerial vehicle in the southwestern Balochistan province earlier this week.
“On June 19, 2017 Pakistan shot down an Iranian Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in Panjgur sector on the Pak-Iran border,” the Foreign Office said in a statement.
“The drone was hit by Pakistan Air Force as it was unidentified and was flying at around 3-4 kilometers (1.86 to 2.48 miles) inside Pakistani airspace,” it added.
The statement read that Pakistan already shared the information with the Iranian authorities indicating that the unmanned aerial vehicle was unmarked and there was no prior information about its flight.
Relations between Iran and Pakistan have been at a low ebb since 10 Iranian border guards were killed by militants in April.
In May, Pakistan and Iran formed a joint commission to probe the incident after head of the Iranian armed forces had threatened to bomb militant hideouts in Pakistan.
Pakistan summoned the Iranian ambassador in Islamabad to lodge a protest over the remark, saying that such comments went against the “spirit of brotherly relations existing between the two countries”.