India said in a statement that a technical malfunction caused the missile to be fired at neighboring Pakistan.
India said it accidentally fired a missile at neighbor pakistan this week due to a “technical malfunction” during routine maintenance, after Pakistan warned the incident could have “unpleasant consequences”.
“On March 9, 2022, in the course of routine maintenance, a technical malfunction led to the accidental firing of a missile,” the Indian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Friday.
“It is known that the missile landed in an area of Pakistan. While the incident is deeply regrettable, it is also a relief that there was no loss of life due to the accident.”
The ministry said the government had “taken a serious view and ordered a high-level Court of Inquiry” into the incident.
The statement came hours after Islamabad’s Foreign Ministry condemned what it called an “unprovoked violation of its airspace by a ‘supersonic flying object’ of Indian origin.”
India’s chargé d’affaires in Islamabad had been summoned to the foreign office for a “loud protest”, it added.
The “reckless launch” damaged property on the ground and endangered civilian lives and aircraft in Pakistani airspace, it said, accusing India of “insensitivity towards regional peace and stability.”
Military experts have warned in the past of the risk of accidents or miscalculations by neighbors, who have fought three wars and have been involved in numerous military engagements, most recently in 2019, in which the air forces of the two were engaged in combat.
Both nations have nuclear weapons.
Pakistani military spokesman Major General Babar Iftikhar told a press conference late Thursday night that a “high-speed flying object” had crashed near the eastern city of Mian Channu and originated from the city of Sirsa, in the north of India, in the state of Haryana, near New Delhi. .
“The flight path of this object endangered many domestic and international passenger flights in both Indian and Pakistani airspace, as well as human life and property on the ground,” it said.
A Pakistani air force official said the object traveled at an altitude of 12,200 meters (40,000 feet), at Mach 3, and flew 124 km (77 miles) in Pakistani airspace before crashing.