The residents of Jamshoro in Pakistan's Sindh province noticed an unidentified flying object falling from the sky with a tail of smoke on Thursday. The object clearly resembled a rocket or a missile.
According to information gathered from social media, the object was a missile, fired by Pakistan from its test range at Sindh. The test was scheduled at 11 am which was postponed by an hour owing to a fault in the TEL (Transporter Erector Launcher). It was finally conducted at noon.
However, seconds after the launch the missile was seen descending from the path, clearly falling short of its desired target and crashed near Thana Bula Khan in Sindh.
Although few Pakistan news channels covered the incident, the authorities in the country have remained silent. According to social media accounts in Pakistan, the local administration, however, refuted any such claim saying that it was a regular Mortar Tracer Round that was fired from the nearby range.
It is unlikely, however, that a mortar with a maximum range of 5 km will have a tracer projectile rise that high.
According to a reporter on the ARY news channel of Pakistan, there had been information of some "plane, rocket or something like that" falling down. He said the police were investigating the matter.
Pakistani news agency the Conflict News Pakistan reported that Pakistan might have test-fired a missile in response to a previous missile mistakenly fired from India.
"Jamshoro, Pakistan tested a missile in response to the previous Indian Brahmos missile. Pakistani missile failed to reach its target & fell down nearby," tweeted Conflict News Pakistan.
Pakistani defence analyst account called AEROSINT Division PSF posted from its Twitter handle, "Aliabad, Jamshoro, Sindh. With regards to the video being published on social media, the own forces testing range near the vicinity of this town is active. No reason to create panic."
The Pakistani defence analyst account further said a prior intimation announcing a no-fly zone in the test area had been issued. It said, "A NOTAM was already issued", and attached the NOTAM issued to airlines, along with a map showing the probable path followed of the projectile.
In the NOTAM, the details of the testing schedules are specified in which the dates 17th and 18th March are mentioned. NOTAM or Notice to Airmen are notices distributed by means of telecommunication containing information concerning the establishment, condition or change in any aeronautical facility, service, procedure or hazard, the timely knowledge of which is essential to personnel concerned with flight operations.
( With inputs from ANI )
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