Pakistani troops shot down what they said was an Indian spy drone that intruded into the disputed region of Kashmir amid tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours, the military said late Sunday.
It was the ninth Indian quadcopter shot down by Pakistani army troops this year, according to the Pakistani military's media wing Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR).
The army said the Indian quadcopter - a small surveillance machine - intruded 850 meters into the Pakistani side of Line of Control (LoC), a de facto frontier that divides Kashmir into two parts controlled by Pakistan and India.
Deadly border skirmishes have flared up since India stripped the parts of Kashmir under its control of a special constitutional status in August last year.
Earlier this month, at least four Pakistani civilians were killed when Indian border forces targeted villages in the disputed valley, days after deadly clashes between Indian and Chinese troops in the same region.
In 2020, India has so far committed 1,487 ceasefire violations along the LoC, in which 13 civilians were killed and 106 wounded, according to Pakistan's foreign ministry.
Two of the three wars between the South Asian rivals have been fought on the scenic Himalayan valley of Kashmir.
