Drone spotted near Indian High Commission in Pakistan; India strongly objects

This comes hours after Border Security Force (BSF) troops in India spotted a quadcopter from Pakistan trying to enter the Indian territory along the international border from Jammu's Arnia sector early on Friday.

A drone was spotted over the Indian High Commission in Pakistan's Islamabad over the weekend, prompting India to strongly object to the security breach. The drone was spotted within the complex during an ongoing event at the mission, people familiar with developments said on condition of anonymity on Friday.

Drone spotted near Indian High Commision in Islamabad, Pakistan.(Reuters/ File photo)

Calling it a security breach, India lodged a formal protest over the incident through a note verbale or unsigned diplomatic correspondence, the people cited above said.

This comes hours after Border Security Force (BSF) troops in India spotted a quadcopter from Pakistan trying to enter the Indian territory along the international border from Jammu's Arnia sector early on Friday.

The movement of the drone was noticed near the border outpost Jabowal, an intelligence official said. Spotted at around 4am in the morning, the spy quadcopter was trying to get into the Indian territory for "surveillance of the area" and the border guards fired half a dozen rounds to bring it down. The quadcopter retreated after it was fired at by the BSF personnel, officials said.

"Alert BSF troops fired at small quadcopter belonging to Pakistan on Friday morning at about 0425 hrs (4:25am) as it was trying to cross IB in Arnia sector. Due to this firing, it returned back immediately," BSF said in a statement.

NS Jamwal, BSF's Jammu frontier inspector general, said they searched the area and but did not find any arms or ammunition.

Security measures have been tightened and forces are on high alert after the unprecedented unmanned drone attack on Indian Air Force (IAF) station on Sunday in Jammu. Two explosives-laden drones crashed into the IAF station at Jammu airport in the early hours of Sunday, in a first where Pakistan-based terrorists are suspected to have used unmanned aerial vehicles in an attack, officials said.