Live mortar bomb found near Nal Air Force base in Rajasthan, Army probes matter

BIKANER: A live mortar bomb has been detected near India Air Force's Nal airbase, located nearly 13 kilometres west of Rajasthan's Bikaner town, on Wednesday morning. Indian Air Force (IAF) officials and the Army immediately reached the spot to investigate the matter.

The mortar case has been taken away by the Army and investigation is underway.

"Today morning, a kind of ammunition box was found on Ganganagar Bypass road. We informed the Army about it. They said it was a mortar case. Army's bomb squad has taken it with them. Probe on," Bikaner SP Pradeep Sharma told ANI.

The development comes amid simmering tensions between India and Pakistan.

The IAF scrambled Sukhoi-30 and Mirage 2000 fighter jets to chase away a Pakistani package of four F-16s flying close to Punjab border on late Sunday night. The Pakistani warplanes were accompanied with a surveillance drone, possibly trying to detect the deployment of Indian troops in border areas.

Tensions between India and Pakistan had flared after a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) killed over 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14.

India launched a preemptive nonmilitary operation, carried out by IAF's Mirage 2000 jets, in Pakistan's Balakot on February 26 to decimate the biggest terror camp of JeM. Pakistan Air Force, retaliatory strikes downed IAF's MiG-21 in aerial combat and captured pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who was handed over to India on March 1.