Live mortar bomb found near Nal Air Force base in Rajasthan, IAF officials at spot

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 police have reached the spot to investigate the issue. The development comes amid simmering tensions between India and Pakistan. Pakistani warplanes were accompanied with a surveillance drone.

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.