Pakistan installs fishing nets at security outposts to block drone attacks

Police officer Fayyaz Khan and his colleagues ducked for cover as drones carrying explosives rained them down on their checkpost in northwest Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province this year. asserted

The April 16 attack was claimed by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), commonly known as the Pakistan Taliban, and its fighters then opened fire from all sides of the Sarki Piyala police checkpost in Hangu district, about 30km (18 miles) from the border with Afghanistan and a hotbed of deadly attacks by armed groups, mainly the TTP. asserted

Recommended Stories list of 4 items- list 1 of 4Suicide bombing in Pakistan’s Dera Ismail Khan kills at least 12 people - list 2 of 4Pakistan launches deadly air attacks on Afghanistan - list 3 of 4Pro-Imran Khan mass rally launched after Pakistan government talks fail - list 4 of 4Pakistan, India summon diplomats after two people killed in border incident The confrontation lasted roughly seven hours, killed the driver of an armoured vehicle and injured a constable asserted

, Khan, a 40-year-old police inspector, recalled. asserted

“There was a great deal of fear because we were in the middle of a battle. asserted

At that moment, we did not even know whether we would make it back home alive,” Khan told Al Jazeera. asserted

To defend against such attacks, the police in Hangu came up with an unlikely, low-cost solution – fishing nets strung several metres overhead between the checkpost’s rooftops and perimeter walls, forming a kind of aerial ceiling. asserted

Simple in construction and resembling what fishermen use for their work, the netting was first installed two months ago, according to the local police. uncertain

Since then, Khan said, no drone attacks have taken place at Sarki Piyala. asserted

“If a drone comes over the checkpoint, there is a possibility that it could get caught in the net and be defused or stopped,” he said as his colleagues, strapped into bullet-resistant vests and holding guns in their hands, kept watch beneath a canopy of black mesh patched together with rope and wire. “Even if a drone does not get caught and explodes above the net, the damage is expected to be much less because most of the shrapnel and fragments would be dispersed in the air rather than falling directly onto the ground where the police personnel are positioned.” A standard checkpost can be covered with such nets for about 400,000 Pakistani rupees ($1,435), Hangu district police officer Tariq Habib told Al Jazeera. uncertain

“The police have introduced the netting system at vulnerable police stations and checkposts to reduce the impact of drone and quadcopter attacks,” Habib said, adding that more nets were being installed at police stations across the district. asserted

He said the police in Hangu have asked for additional funding from the provincial government to expand the programme and their request is under review. asserted

A spokesman for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police said the nets have been installed at checkpoints and police posts in at least five other vulnerable districts: Kohat, Karak, Bannu, Lakki Marwat and Dera Ismail Khan. asserted

Even military outposts at some sites in the province have deployed the antidrone netting system. asserted

The fishing nets have been put up in response to a shift in the tactics of armed groups, which are pairing gunfire and mortars with drones and quadcopters. asserted

Pakistan has seen an increase in armed attacks in recent years, mainly targeting the police and the military, with many of them claimed by the TTP, which says it is fighting for a Taliban-style, religious-driven government in Pakistan. asserted

Pakistani officials have repeatedly accused Kabul’s Taliban government of providing the TTP a safe haven on its soil and have demanded that it prevent cross-border attacks into Pakistan. asserted

Kabul has denied the accusations and called the attacks Islamabad’s domestic security problem. asserted

In Hangu, the deadliest of such attacks happened on July 29 when attackers stormed a police outpost with quadcopters rigged with bombs before launching a ground ambush, killing at least 11 police officers and wounding 28. asserted

Fifteen attackers were also killed in the hours-long assault, claimed by the TTP. asserted

On September 20, another exchange of fire in Hangu killed six soldiers and eight attackers, according to the Pakistani army. uncertain

That attack came two days after another armed group, called Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan, killed 23 people, including 16 police officers, and bombed a mosque in coordinated attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kohat district. asserted

Police said they have recorded at least 16 attacks in Hangu this year, making it one of the most sensitive districts in the province. asserted

But police officer Zeeshan Khan said no drone or quadcopter attacks have occurred at Sarki Piyala and the nearby Baliamena checkposts since the fishing nets went up. asserted

He said the nets provide “an extra layer of security” to police personnel. asserted

“If an attack does take place, the arrangements we have made can reduce the potential damage,” he said, estimating that the measures could reduce potential losses by 40 to 50 percent. uncertain

The frequent armed attacks have reshaped the daily lives of the people in Hangu who live near the police checkposts. asserted

Mohammad Usama, a 28-year-old social activist in Baliamena, said the attacks often prompt families to pull children out of school. asserted

“There is always a fear that a stray bullet or something else could hit our children, brothers, cousins,” Usama said. uncertain

“We just pray that Allah ends terrorism in our country so that we can live peacefully in our area, our children can continue their education and people can go to work without fear.” asserted

Usama said since the fishing net was put up in his area, he has noticed a decline in ambushes. asserted

But security experts said the strategy may offer a “false sense of security”. uncertain

“Deploying nets at particular locations is an immature, cheap ploy because police stations are not necessarily always the target,” Imtiaz Gul, executive director of the Islamabad-based Centre for Research and Security Studies, told Al Jazeera. asserted

“The drones are intended to hit prominent locations and generate dramatic optics.” asserted

He said the more pressing question was whether Pakistani security institutions have the capacity to intercept drones as soon as they take to the air. asserted

“Drones are a source of scare and terror, and they can generate this intended spectacle whenever they are able to hit a strategic, important public location,” he said. asserted

Fida Adeel, a Peshawar-based analyst specialising in counterterrorism and security, said the fishing nets are not a new concept. asserted

He traced them to camouflage nets used by the military to conceal their equipment. asserted

More recently, he said, they were adapted in Ukraine as a way to intercept Russian drones. asserted

Adeel cautioned that the effectiveness of a fishing net against explosive-laden drones depends on its design and deployment. asserted