Gujarat: Blackout for over 7 hours in parts of border districts of Kutch and Banaskantha

Bhuj: A total blackout for more than 7 hours was enforced in several parts of the border districts of Kutch and Banaskantha in Gujarat on Thursday night amid escalating tension between India and Pakistan, officials have said.

Both Kutch and Banaskantha districts share a border with Pakistan.

Officials confirmed that several parts of Kutch, including Bhuj, Nalia, Nakhatrana and Gandhidham towns, were put under total blackout as a precautionary measure to deter any offensive gesture by Pakistan.

The lights went out around 10 pm on Thursday, and power was back after 5.30 am on Friday, they said.

Similarly, blackouts were declared in Suigam and 20 villages in its vicinity in the Banaskantha district, they said.

In the neighbouring Patan district, the authorities enforced a blackout in 8-10 villages in Santalpur taluka, said officials.

Earlier on Thursday, wreckage of a 'drone-like' object was found at a remote place near Khavda village of Gujarat's Kutch district, close to India's border with Pakistan.

However, there was no clarity about the origin of the drone and whether it was shot down or got damaged and fell down after hitting the power line during the early hours of Thursday.

The place where the wreckage was found is nearly 20 km away from the Indo-Pak border.

Tensions escalated after Indian armed forces early Wednesday carried out missile strikes on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), including the Jaish-e-Mohammad stronghold of Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba's base in Muridke, in retaliation for the terror attack in Pahalgam.