- JAMMU, India (Reuters) - India's military said
on Thursday it had shot down a pilotless Pakistani spy plane which intruded
into Indian airspace in disputed Kashmir.
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- The Indian report of the downing Wednesday of the unmanned
aircraft came just over a week after Pakistan said it had shot down a pilotless
Indian spy plane after it crossed Pakistani airspace in the Himalayan region
of Kashmir.
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- "The movement of this unmanned (Pakistani) aerial
vehicle was observed in the afternoon (Wednesday) and was knocked down
immediately," Lieutenant Colonel Bhanwar Rathore told Reuters, adding
the debris fell near the Indian side of the Line of Control that divides
Pakistani and Indian forces in Kashmir. The plane was shot down in the
Mendhar sector of the Poonch district, 160 miles north of Jammu, Kashmir's
winter capital, the defense official said. Both sides often report intrusions
by unmanned spy planes into each other's air space.
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- New Delhi accuses Islamabad of arming militants who have
been fighting Indian rule in Jammu and Kashmir since 1989. Pakistan denies
the charge, saying it only provides moral support to what it calls a legitimate
freedom struggle by Kashmiris.
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