Missile Found Intact In Hoshiarpur, Another Damages Home of Bathinda Farmer

Jalandhar: Amidst ongoing tensions between India and Pakistan following ‘Operation Sindoor’, Pakistan’s attempts to target the border state of Punjab surfaced on Friday (May 9) after missiles, their wreckage and traces of drones were found in many villages here.

Punjab government officials confirmed that the missiles were launched by Pakistan and that the wreckage was taken into possession by personnel from the army and the Indian Air Force.

While a missile launched by Pakistan fell intact in the Kamahi Devi village of Hoshiarpur district, the wreckage of another missile was found from the Tungwali, Burj Mehma and Garhi Bhagi villages of Bathinda district.

Notably, Tungwali is situated near the Bathinda cantonment, while Burj Mehma is situated near the Bhisiana air force station in Bathinda.

Wing commander Vyomika Singh of the IAF said on Friday that an armed Pakistani drone attempted to target the Bhisiana station but was “detected and neutralised”.

On Thursday night, a missile was found intact in the Kamahi Devi village of Hoshiarpur district after loud blasts were heard in the army’s Unchi Bassi ammunition depot situated on the Jalandhar-Pathankot highway.

Villagers in Kamahi Devi said locals panicked because the missile was intact.

“We did not move out of our houses fearing that it might explode. However, when army and IAF officials took possession of it, people were relieved,” said a farmer who saw the missile lying in a barren area.

Speaking to The Wire, Hoshiarpur deputy commissioner Aashika Jain confirmed that an intact missile launched from Pakistan was found in a barren area in the village. “The missile fell in the village yesterday evening. We had immediately cordoned off the area. A team of army and IAF officials have taken the missile in their possession and are examining it,” she said.

In Tungwali, farmer Gurjant Singh told The Wire that he heard a loud blast at around 10:30 pm on Thursday after a missile-like object fell in his maize field.

The missile led to a seven-to-eight-foot deep hole in the field, he said.

Singh’s terrified family rushed outside at night but failed to understand what had happened or find the missile wreckage. It was in the morning that he found splinters from the missile lying in his porch and noticed the wreckage in his field.

He said the extent of the blast was so devastating that the shed of his milch animals was blown away while the window panes of his newly constructed house were also damaged.

“The air conditioner in one of the rooms got damaged too. One of the walls of the house was also affected. Such was the impact of the blast that it created holes in the trolley of my tractor which was parked in the fields,” Singh added.

He also shared that the fact that he had watered his maize fields helped in averting further damage.

“The attack damaged my … maize crop as everybody walked over it to trace the wreckage. Army officials told us that the wet maize field where the wreckage fell saved us, for otherwise the extent of damage could have been more,” he said, adding that the window panes of some houses nearby were damaged too.

Meanwhile, a team comprising a naib tehsildar and a patwari from Bathinda also visited Singh’s house and assured him of government compensation.

Bathinda rural senior superintendent of police Amneet Kondal told The Wire that the cops received information of some wreckage that fell in Tungwali and rushed police personnel to the spot.

“Besides the Bathinda police, army and IAF officials had also reached Tungwali and took the wreckage of the object in their possession. No loss of human life was reported. However, following the loss of property of the victim’s house, a team comprising Bathinda district administration also reached Tungwali.”