A soldier was killed when he was hit by a fragment of a Pakistani drone, which was successfully intercepted by the Army Air Defence at an air base in Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur district on Saturday, officials said.

The incident took place before the announcement of a ceasefire by India and Pakistan to end their combat activities, which have intensified after the Indian armed forces carried out a missile strike on nine terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir on May 7 in retaliation to the Pahalgam terror attack, they said.

The solider was on duty at the Udhampur air base, which came under Pakistani drone attack earlier during the day.

The Indian Air Defence successfully intercepted the drones in the air, but a jawan was hit by a fallen debris resulting in critical injuries to him, the officials said, adding that he later succumbed to his injuries.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma paid rich tributes to the fallen soldier and expressed sympathies with his family.

“The news of the martyrdom of Shri Surendra Singh Moga ji, a son of Rajasthan, a resident of Jhunjhunu, a soldier of the Indian Army, who attained martyrdom at Udhampur Air Base while performing his duty of national security is extremely sad,” he wrote on X.

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