Pakistan police string fishing nets over outposts to block drone attacks
Police in Pakistan's Hangu district are stringing fishing nets overhead at security checkposts to block explosive-laden drones, a $1,435-a-post fix the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa force is now rolling out across five more districts.
Police in Pakistan’s Hangu district have come up with an unlikely defence against militant drone attacks: fishing nets strung several metres overhead between checkpost rooftops and perimeter walls, forming an aerial ceiling against explosive-laden drones (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/5/pakistan-installs-fishing-nets-at-security-outposts-to-block-drone-attacks).
The measure follows an April 16 attack on the Sarki Piyala checkpost, about 30km from the Afghanistan border, in which drones carrying explosives rained down on officers before fighters opened fire in a seven-hour confrontation that killed the driver of an armoured vehicle and injured a constable. The attack was claimed by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
The netting was first installed two months ago, and since then no drone attacks have taken place at Sarki Piyala, police inspector Khan, 40, told Al Jazeera. “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.
Covering a standard checkpost costs about 400,000 Pakistani rupees ($1,435), Hangu district police officer Tariq Habib said. The force has asked the provincial government for additional funding, and a Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police spokesman said nets are now being installed at checkpoints and police posts in five more vulnerable districts — Kohat, Karak, Bannu, Lakki Marwat and Dera Ismail Khan — with military outposts also deploying them.
Security analysts urged caution: Imtiaz Gul of the Centre for Research and Security Studies called the nets an “immature, cheap ploy”, and Peshawar-based analyst Fida Adeel said claims of 40 to 50 percent protection could not be verified without real-world trials. The police spokesman said a formal trial in Kohat saw an explosive dropped on a net fail to detonate.
Hangu is a hotbed of attacks, mainly by the TTP: 16 have been recorded this year, including a July 29 assault that killed 11 police officers and wounded 28.
More on this topic: all World stories
