Israeli fighters scrambled and shot down an intruder bearing down on one of the nation's nuclear facilities near the Dead Sea; the bandit was a balloon.
"Air force planes were scrambled after a suspicious object was seen," a military spokeswoman told AFP. "It was shot down." She did not elaborate.
Local news site Ynet said one of the planes fired a missile at the object "which was hovering close to the nuclear research institute at Dimona."
It said the balloon appeared to be powered by an engine, but was unmanned.
This could be a runaway children's balloon, an untethered hot air balloon or, if it really had an engine and was unmanned, a homegrown terrorist UAV. Security experts have long warned that the miniaturization of the everything from weapons to surveillance technology could easily be used by non-state actors to develop homegrown drones.
Maybe it's this guy again. Kidding.
Here's the AFP article on the affair.
