Islamabad Airport Resumes Flights After Closure Over Drone Sighting

Islamabad: The Islamabad International Airport resumed normal operations after it was suspended temporarily as a drone was spotted over the Pakistani capital’s airspace, reports indicated.

The Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) had issued a notice to airmen (NOTAM) earlier in the day, as flight operations were halted for operational reasons. Authorities closes the skies for safety and security checks for several hours, officials said. 

“The airport is now operational, and all flights are running according to schedule,” a PAA spokesperson said, asking all passengers to contact their respective airlines. The flight operations were halted at about 6:30pm and were restored at 8pm.

The drone was neutralised by authorities after being brought down, security sources said. Though there was some speculation that the drone may have come from across Afghanistan, it was largely believed to be of local origin.

Meanwhile Afghanistan's Ministry of Defence said on Friday that it conducted retaliatory drone strikes on strategic military centres and installations of the Pakistan army in the Kohath area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Pakistan's Kohat Military Fort, a war command centre along the Durand Line, and the office of the fort's commander sustained significant damage during the retaliatory strikes.

In a post on X, Afghanistan's Ministry of Defence said, "The fort's military installations, the command centre, depots, and soldiers' residential quarters were destroyed, resulting in significant human and material losses."

The strikes came after the military targeted various areas of the Alisher-Terezai district of Khost province, near the hypothetical Durand Line, with artillery fire, as per TOLO News. Four members of one family were killed, and three others were injured as a result of the shelling.

The Pakistan Air Force also struck the fuel depots belonging to the private airline Kam Air near Kandahar Airport in Afghanistan.

In a post on X, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said that this company provides fuel materials for domestic airlines as well as for United Nations aircraft. Zabihullah Mujahid also accused Pakistan of previously attacking the fuel storage of a national trader named Haji Khan Zadah.

This comes amid an increasing exchange of airstrikes between Pakistan and Afghanistan along the Durand Line in February. Pakistan launched air strikes on Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, and other cities as clashes escalate along the two countries' shared border.

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