India Confirms It Accidentally Fired Missile Into Pakistan

A staff cleans Akash, a medium-range mobile surface-to-air missile defense system developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), on the second day of the 5-day, of Aero India airshow at the Yelahanka Air Force Station in Bangalore on Feb. 21, 2019. Manjunath Kiran/AFP/Getty Images

India’s government on Friday confirmed that it accidentally fired a missile into Pakistan’s airspace, blaming the incident on a technical problem.

The Indian Defense Ministry stated that “a technical malfunction” during “routine maintenance” was the cause of the “accidental firing” of the missile before it landed in a part of Pakistan on March 9. An investigation was launched into how it occurred.