New Delhi:
Powerful explosions were reported early Saturday across multiple Pakistani air bases, including a critical installation near the capital Islamabad, prompting the Pakistani government to shut down the country’s airspace to all civilian and commercial traffic. Multiple explosions were also heard in Srinagar this morning, hours after India repelled Pakistani drone attacks.
The Pakistani military has claimed that the blasts occurred at three air force installations, including the Nur Khan Air Base in Rawalpindi, a key site less than 10 kilometres from Islamabad and adjacent to the country’s military headquarters.
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Multiple videos circulating on Pakistani media and social media purportedly show the Nur Khan Air Base on fire following a huge explosion. NDTV could not independently verify these videos. Eyewitnesses described loud, successive blasts followed by a flurry of military activity on the ground.
The Nur Khan facility, formerly known as Chaklala Air Base, is one of Pakistan’s most sensitive military compounds, housing both air force operations and VIP transport units.
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According to the Pakistani military, besides the Nur Khan air base, the Murid air base in Chakwal city and Rafiqui air base in the Jhang district of Punjab province have also been hit.
The Indian Army called for a press conference at 5:45 AM today, which was later postponed to 10 AM.
The Three Airbases
The Nur Khan Air Base serves primarily as a logistics and refuelling hub. In contrast, the PAF Base Rafiqui, situated in Shorkot in Punjab province, functions as one of Pakistan’s principal fighter airbases, housing an array of combat aircraft including the Chinese-made JF-17 fighter jets, French-built Mirage 5 fighters, and Alouette III helicopters.
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The Murid Air Base is Pakistan’s principal unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) installation, dedicated almost entirely to drone warfare and reconnaissance operations. It operates a fleet that includes the indigenously developed Shahpar I for surveillance missions, the NESCOM Burraq UAV for armed strikes, and the Turkish-made Bayraktar drone, which has seen extensive combat usage, notably in the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
More recently, Murid has also deployed the Turkish Akinci-L, a high-altitude, long-endurance combat UAV.
Pakistan Airspace Shut
Pakistan today shut down its airspace for all air traffic, hours after India accused it of sing commercial flights as shields amid drone attacks. The decision, notified through a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM), came amid heightened tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
The move follows a night of intense drone activity along India’s northern and western borders, after Pakistan launched a coordinated wave of drone attacks targeting military infrastructure across 26 locations, ranging from Leh in the north to Sir Creek in the south. Several of the targeted sites included key airfields, forward military bases, and civil aviation facilities. India successfully repelled most attacks.
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India accused Pakistan of endangering international air traffic by keeping its airspace open while executing drone and missile operations.
“Pakistan is using civil airliners as a shield, knowing fully well that its attack on India would elicit a swift air defence response. This is not safe for the unsuspecting civil airliners, including the international flights which were flying near the international border between India and Pakistan,” Colonel Sofiya Qureshi of the Army said at a press briefing yesterday, alongside Wing Commander Vyomika Singh of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri.
Pakistan deployed between 300 and 400 drones, identified preliminarily as Turkish-made Asisguard Songar models, on the night of May 8-9. Many were intercepted using a combination of kinetic and electronic warfare systems, including the Barak-8 and S-400 Triumph missile defence platforms, Akash SAMs, and indigenous anti-drone technologies.
