India shoots down unmanned Pakistani spy plane

Indian soldiers shot down an unmanned Pakistani aircraft that intruded into Indian air space.

The plane flew over the northern Indian state of Jammu-Kashmir on Sunday, military officials say.

The unmanned drone, which takes aerial photographs, was flying nearly 2.5 miles inside Indian territory.

The plane was flying in the Poonch sector along the India-Pakistan border when troops fired at it, an army official says.

Poonch is about 150 miles northwest of Jammu, the winter capital of the disputed Himalayan state of Jammu-Kashmir.

The official says the plane was seen going down and soldiers are scouring the mountainous area to locate the debris.

It is possible that a part of the debris could have fallen on the Pakistani side of the border, he says.

Eyewitnesses who saw the UAV - unmanned aerial vehicle - flying overhead say there was panic among Poonch residents, who thought war had broken out.

An Indian army spokesman says that the border was quiet most of the day, but that after the drone was shot down, heavy mortar and artillery fire by both sides began along the border.

The spokesman says heavy casualties were inflicted on the Pakistani side.