Mystery Flight? A Turkish Cargo Plane's Presence In Pakistan Raises Questions After Drone Barrage

A Turkish subject cargo level landing successful Karachi connected May 8, conscionable hours aft Pakistan launched a swarm of Turkish-origin drones toward Indian cities, has triggered a activity of intrigue and unease. While some Turkish and Pakistani authorities person dismissed nan aircraft’s sojourn arsenic a regular refuelling stop, nan timing — paired pinch Islamabad’s refusal to adjacent its civilian airspace during nan onslaught — has raised difficult questions.

At a high-stakes media briefing, Indian officials accused Pakistan of utilizing unsuspecting civilian craft arsenic aerial camouflage while it launched 300–400 drones — galore of them Turkish-made Asisguard SONGAR models — toward Indian civilian and subject targets. “Pakistan did not adjacent its civilian airspace contempt launching a failed, unprovoked drone and rocket onslaught connected 7 May astatine 8:30 pm,” said Wing Commander Vyomika Singh. “It knowingly utilized a civilian airliner arsenic a shield.”

While India’s aerial defence successfully neutralised nan activity of drones, including astatine slightest 50 changeable down by aerial defence guns and different 20 brought down by jamming systems, nan intent down nan onslaught was clear: wide probing of India’s defences. Many of nan drones were unarmed, equipped alternatively pinch surveillance cameras — a imaginable intelligence-gathering ngo masked arsenic aggression.

Colonel Sofiya Qureshi revealed that nan drone incursion spanned crossed 36 cities, from Siachen successful Ladakh to Kutch successful Gujarat — a staggering 1,400-km spread. It coincided pinch mini arms occurrence and artillery shelling on nan LoC, which resulted successful 16 Indian casualties, including 1 soldier.

Amid this unfolding crisis, visuals and formation locator information circulating online showed Turkish C-130E Hercules craft successful Pakistani airspace. Reports claimed up to six specified craft landed successful nan days surrounding nan onslaught — though only 1 has been verified via formation logs. Ankara’s denial was swift, but nan optics stay problematic: drones made successful Turkey, fired from Pakistan, during a play erstwhile Turkish subject cargo is spotted connected nan ground.

Published on: May 9, 2025 8:57 PM IST