The Pakistan Army on Thursday (10 March) claimed that it detected a high-flying projectile that came into its airspace allegedly from India and crashed inside its territory in Punjab province.

“On March 9, at 6:43pm, a high speed flying object was picked up inside the Indian territory…From initial course, it deviated and entered Pakistan territory and fell in Pakistani territory, causing some damage to civilian installations but no loss of life was reported,” Pakistan Army spokesman Major General Babar Iftikhar told the media.

The supersonic flying object was "most probably a missile" but was "certainly unarmed," the Pakistani side said.

There was no immediate reaction from India.

Major General Iftikhar said the object crashed in Mian Channu, a town in the Khanewal district of Pakistan's Punjab on Wednesday (9 March) night. He said the projectile launched from the surface and added that the Pakistan Air Force initiated tactical operations after detecting it.

"PAF continuously monitored the complete flying path of the object, from its point of origin near Sirsa in India to its point of impact, near Mian Channu," Major General Iftikhar noted, adding, "The projectile travelled 124 kilometres inside Pakistani territory in three minutes and 44 seconds".

“The flight path endangered civilians in both Pakistan and India. India must explain what caused this; this reflects poorly on Indian aviation,” he said, adding that this could have resulted in a major aviation disaster.

"Pakistan strongly protests this flagrant violation and cautions against the recurrence of any such incident in the future," he added.

With inputs from PTI