MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan shot down two Indian warplanes Wednesday in the disputed region of Kashmir and captured a pilot, its military said, raising tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals to a level unseen in 20 years.

The dramatic escalation came hours after Pakistan said mortar shells fired by Indian troops from across the frontier dividing the two sectors of Kashmir killed six civilians and wounded several others. Earlier Tuesday, Indian warplanes had struck inside Pakistan for the first time since a war in 1971.

Both countries have ordered airstrikes over the last two days, the first time in history that two nuclear-armed powers have done so. Their ground forces have also exchanged fire in more than a dozen locations.

The Indian air force shut Kashmir's main airport in Srinagar along with at least three others in neighboring states because of the incidents, an official said. Pakistan also closed its airspace.

In a televised speech, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan sought to defuse the situation.

"I ask India: with the weapons you have and the weapons we have, can we really afford a miscalculation?" he said. "Let's sit and settle this with talks."

Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor tweeted that "only one pilot" is in Pakistan's custody after earlier reports said they had captured two. The tweet included a picture of a mustachioed man identified as the Indian pilot sipping tea.

An army official who could not be identified under briefing rules said the confusion came from soldiers on the ground. While two planes were shot down, he said one pilot landed inside Pakistani-controlled Kashmir and the other on the Indian side of the disputed border.

Despite Geneva Convention rules prohibiting the public display of prisoners , the military circulated a video of the Indian pilot, who was recorded saying he was being well treated and praising the Pakistan military.

India confirmed that one of its Mig-21 fighter aircraft had been "lost" in an engagement with intruding Pakistani aircraft in the Indian portion of Kashmir.

Meanwhile, Indian police said officials recovered four bodies from the wreckage of an Indian air force chopper that crashed in Indian-controlled sector of Kashmir. It wasn't immediately clear if that crash was related to Pakistan's claim of shooting down a second Indian aircraft.

Kashmir is split between Pakistan and India and claimed by both in its entirety.

Though Pakistani and Indian troops in Kashmir often trade fire, the latest civilian casualties on the Pakistani side came a day after tensions escalated sharply following a pre-dawn airstrike and incursion by India on Tuesday that New Delhi said targeted a terrorist training camp in northwestern Pakistan.

Tensions have increased between the two countries since Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for the Feb. 14 suicide bombing of a convoy of India's paramilitary forces in the Indian portion of Kashmir that killed 40 soldiers.

Pakistan has said it was not involved in the attack and was ready to help New Delhi in the investigations.

On Wednesday, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told state-run Pakistan Television he was in touch with his counterparts across the world about the "Indian aggression," adding that New Delhi had endangered peace in the region by launching an airstrike on Pakistan.

The Foreign Ministry added that the strikes were aimed at "avoiding human loss and collateral damage."

In New Delhi, India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said Wednesday her country does not wish to see further escalation of the situation with Pakistan and that it will continue to act with restraint.

She said the limited objective of India's strike inside Pakistan on a terrorist training camp Tuesday was to act decisively against the terrorist infrastructure of Jaish-e-Mohammad, to pre-empt another terror attack in India.

Pakistan and India have fought three wars since independence from British colonial rule in 1947 and went to the brink a fourth in 2002 after a Pakistani militant attack on India's parliament. </s> Pakistan has shot down two Indian warplanes over the disputed territory of Kashmir, one day after New Delhi launched an airstrike against a jihadist militant camp in the country, an armed forces spokesperson said today.

One plane went down on the Indian side of the border, and the pilot of the other plane was captured by Pakistani troops, Major General Asif Ghafoor said.

Police officials in Indian-occupied Kashmir said that two Indian pilots and a civilian had died after an Indian air force plane crashed in Kashmir, but did not confirm if the plane had been shot down by Pakistani forces.

Pakistan's foreign ministry says the country's Air Force is carrying out airstrikes against Indian Kashmir from within Pakistani airspace, but claimed that this was not in 'retaliation to continued Indian belligerence'.

The ministry said the strikes on Wednesday are aimed at 'avoiding human loss and collateral damage.'

It says the Pakistanis have 'no intention of escalation, but are fully prepared to do so if forced into that paradigm. That is why we undertook the action with clear warning and in broad daylight.'

Indian officials said three Pakistani jets had also entered Indian airspace, before being intercepted and forced turned back.

Tensions between the two nuclear armed rivals have been elevated since a suicide car bombing by Pakistan-based militants in Indian-controlled Kashmir killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police on February 14.

The risk of conflict rose dramatically after India launched an air strike on what it said was a training base for the Jaish-e-Mohammed jihadist militant group that claimed credit for the suicide attack in Pakistan's Balakot region on Tuesday.

But while India said a large number of JeM fighters had been killed, Pakistani officials said the Indian airstrike was a failure and inflicted no casualties.

The Indian air force has ordered Kashmir's main airport in Srinagar along with at least three others in neighboring states to be closed because of the two incidents, an official said.

On Tuesday evening, Pakistan began shelling using heavy calibre weapons in 12 to 15 places along the de facto border in Kashmir, known as the Line of Control (LoC), a spokesman for the Indian defence forces said.

'The Indian Army retaliated for effect and our focused fire resulted in severe destruction to five posts and number of casualties,' the spokesman said.

Five Indian soldiers suffered minor wounds in the shelling that ended on Wednesday morning, he added.

'So far there are no (civilian) casualties but there is panic among people,' said Rahul Yadav, the deputy commissioner of the Poonch district where some of the shelling took place.

'We have an evacuation plan in place and if need arises we will evacuate people to safer areas,' he said.

Local officials on the Pakistani side said at least four people had been killed and seven wounded, though it was unclear if the casualties were civilian or military.

India has also continued its crackdown on suspected militants operating in Kashmir, a mountainous region that both countries claim in full but rule in part.

On Wednesday, security forces killed two Jaish militants in a gun battle, Indian police said.

Pakistan has promised to retaliate to Tuesday's air strikes, and security across India has been tightened. The two countries have fought three wars since independence from British colonial rule in 1947 and went to the brink a fourth in 2002 after a Pakistani militant attack on India's parliament.

In Mumbai, India's financial capital, there was a visible increase in security levels for a city that has suffered numerous militant attacks in the past.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke separately with the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan and urged them to avoid 'further military activity' following Tuesday's airstrike.

'I expressed to both ministers that we encourage India and Pakistan to exercise restraint, and avoid escalation at any cost,' Pompeo said in a statement on Wednesday.

'I also encouraged both ministers to prioritize direct communication and avoid further military activity,' he said.

Both China and the European Union have also called for restraint. On Wednesday New Zealand's foreign minister Winston Peters also voiced concern over the escalation in tensions. </s> New Delhi, Feb 27: A day after Indian Air Force (IAF) crossed the Line of Control (LOC) on Tuesday morning, Pakistan on Wednesday exhibited aggression along the LOC that has created a war-like situation.

Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale on Tuesday announced that India conducted a major preemptive strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp in Balakote early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers, and senior commanders.

He did not divulge details of the attack, but various reports said that as many as 12 Mirage 2000 fighter jets of the Indian Air Force took part in the operation and 1,000 kgs bombs were dropped on terror camps across the Line of Control (LoC).

Also Read | How Indian Air Force took Pakistan by surprise and effectively struck at Balakot

IAF's action comes days after Jaish-e-Mohammed trained terrorist attacked a CRPF convoy on Jammu-Srinagar Highway in Pulwama on February 14 and killed 40 jawans, which raged India.

After Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that Indian forces have been given free hand to take suitable action, Pakistan was on high alert to avert any action by India. However, India's Tuesday action left Pakistan surprised.

By the Tuesday evening, Pakistan resorted to indiscriminate firing across the LOC resulting in the escalation of tension between the two countries.

On Wednesday, Pakistan claimed its Air Force shot down two Indian aircraft inside Pakistani airspace.

In a tweet, Director General ISPR Major General Asif Ghafoor said one of the aircraft fell inside Azad Jammu and Kashmir while other fell inside Indian occupied Kashmir. Pakistan also claimed of arresting two Indian pilots.

Pakistan Army reportedly released a video in which a man was purportedly seen as saying that "I am Wing Commander Abhinandan, I am IAF officer. My service No is 27 981". It said that the second captured and injured Indian pilot was in a hospital and safe. However, there was no official confirmation from the Indian government.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mohammad Faisal was quoted by ANI as saying that the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) undertook strikes across LoC from Pakistani airspace. The sole purpose of this action was to demonstrate our right, will, and capability for self-defence. We do not wish to escalate but are fully prepared if forced into that paradigm.

On the other hand, India said that Pakistan violated its airspace and it has destroyed a Pakistan's F-16 fighter jet.

"Pakistan Air Force's F-16 that violated Indian air space shot down in Indian retaliatory fire 3KM within Pakistan territory in Lam valley, Nowshera sector," reported ANI.

After Pakistan's aggression, Home Minister Rajnath Singh along with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval held a high-level meeting in the Home Ministry and the situation along the India-Pakistan border.

Later, Prime Minister Prime Minister Narendra Modi also held a review meeting at his office in which Doval is learnt to have briefed the Prime Minister about the current situation.

India heightened the security level inside the country and along the border. Eight airports have been closed as a precautionary measure. These airports are: Srinagar, Leh, Jammu, Amritsar, Pathankot, Dharamshala, Chandigarh, and Dehradun.

Also Read | How the Sukhoi 30 acted as a decoy as the Mirages struck at Balakot

The helicopter service at Vaishno Devi Shrine in Jammu has also been suspended.

The Army and Border Security Force (BSF) have also been put on the highest degree of alertness along the border.

The airspace of the northern India has been freed of commercial flights.

The Indian Air Force has asked its pilots to be ready for action within two minutes as and when required.

Indian commercial international flights have also been advised not to cross Pakistani airspace while en route to their destinations.

In another development, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that when the United States can enter Pakistan to kill Osama bin Laden then why can't India do such operation in today's situation.

A sign of concern for Pakistan has been that China has not reacted the way it expected after India's non-military action in Pakistan.

China and Pakistan have friendly relations, but Beijing has asked India and Pakistan to maintain restraint.

Major airports in Pakistan have also been shut for commercial flights.

Meanwhile, with speculations of an approaching war, many Indians and Pakistanis have taken to social media to express their disapproval of the war. They were tweeting with hashtag #SayNotoWar. </s> Top officials on Wednesday said one Pakistan Air Force's F-16 jet that violated Indian air space in Nowshera sector of Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district was shot down in retaliatory firing, three kilometres within Pakistan territory in Lam valley, along the Line of Control.

The jets were immediately pushed back by Indian aircraft on air patrol, a top official has said. Police sources have also said that Pakistani jets dropped bombs on their way out at Nadian, Lam Jhangar, and Kerri in Rajouri district and Hamirpur area of Bhimber Galli in Poonch of the Indian territory.

A parachute was spotted going down across the Line of Control but the condition of the PAF pilot is not known.

This action comes a day after the Indian Air Force carried out air strikes in the wee hours of Tuesday morning on Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camps in Balakot, Muzaffarabad and Chakoti.

Pakistan military, in the meanwhile, has claimed to have arrested an Indian pilot after shooting down two IAF aircraft. Major General Asif Ghafoor, the head of the media wing of Pakistan’s military, claimed in a tweet that one of the aircraft fell in Jammu and Kashmir, while the other fell in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. He also claimed that the Indian Air Force had crossed the Line of Control once again on Wednesday morning.

The Indian jets are still patrolling the area.

Where is Nowshera and Lam valley?

Soon as reports about the Pakistani fighter jet spread, there were confusions about where exactly was Nowshera and Lam valley. Nowshera, where the air space violation took place, is in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, about 10 kilometre North of Srinagar's Lal Chowk. It lies close to the LoC. This shouldn't be confused with Nowshera, the primary city in Nowshera district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

Lam Valley, on the other hand, lies in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK). Places near Lam Valley include Jhangar, Nadian, Kerri, Mendhar, Bhimber Galli in Poonch and other places.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said the Pakistani warplane was shot down by the Indian Air Force after it attempted to target military establishments in Jammu and Kashmir.

It was earlier reported that three Pakistani Air Force jets attempted to violate the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch and Nowshera sectors but were chased away by Indian combat air patrol team of Sukhoi SU-30s.

The Pakistan government later claimed in a statement that its air force undertook strikes on the Indian side of the Line of Control “from within Pakistani airspace” and for "self-defence". It denied that the F-16 was shot down.

Firstpost is now on WhatsApp. For the latest analysis, commentary and news updates, sign up for our WhatsApp services. Just go to Firstpost.com/Whatsapp and hit the Subscribe button. </s> Anger erupted in India on Saturday after a video surfaced showing an Indian pilot of a downed airplane hailing the professionalism of the Pakistani military and slamming the Indian media for propelling “war hysteria”, as tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi took a new turn, AFP reported.

READ MORE: India Not Planning New Airstrikes Near Border With Pakistan — Envoy to Moscow

Days after the video was unearthed, The Times of India cited the Indian Air Force as saying that the video of Abhinandan praising the Pakistani military for treating him well was heavily edited.

The footage featured many jump cuts that allegedly were made to tailor the captive’s statement to Pakistan’s agenda, the media claimed.

Indian journalists and social media users appeared to share the same stance:

Omar Abdullah, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, took to Twitter to comment on the incident, and the video, which he also believes, was filmed under duress:

In the meantime, Pakistani media outlets have praised the government for liberating the pilot, with lawyer Shahzaib Khan penning in The Express Tribune that Pakistanis “have a reason to boast… the Prime Minister has done Pakistan proud by not engaging in chest thumping or war-mongering for political gain”.

READ MORE: UN Urges India, Pakistan to De-Escalate Tensions in Disputed Kashmir Region

Pakistani netizens blasted reports alleging that the footage could be scripted:

Abhinandan was captured after his MiG fighter jet was shot down on Wednesday while he was conducting a mission over the disputed region of Kashmir. He managed to eject himself from the plane safely, but landed in the Pakistani-controlled part of Jammu and Kashmir, where he was eventually captured.

READ MORE: VIDEO of Alleged Dogfight Between Indian, Pakistani Fighters Emerges on Internet

Shortly after his landing, a video emerged allegedly showing Pakistani troops protecting him from a furious mob, purportedly demanding that the pilot be handed over to them.

Minutes before his release, Abhinandan was recorded saying: “The army personnel saved me from the mob. The Pakistani Army is very professional and I am impressed by it”. He also voiced “regret over the role of Indian media for creating war hysteria”.

Hours after Abhinandan was handed over to India, two Pakistani civilians and three Indians were killed in cross-border shelling along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district.

READ MORE: Allegedly Downed PAF F-16 Pilot Mistaken as Indian, Lynched in Pakistan – Report

Over the last week, there have been at least 60 ceasefire violations in the forward areas of Poonch, Rajourim Jammu and Baramulla districts, NDTV cited police sources as saying.

In response, India’s Air Force carried out an assault on an alleged terrorist base in Pakistan-administered-Kashmir, reportedly destroying a number of facilities on 26 February.

The following day, Islamabad announced it had intercepted two Indian warplanes over the disputed Kashmir border, and captured Abhinandan. The Indian Air Force, in turn, stated that one of its MiG-21 Bison jets had shot down a Pakistani F-16 during the dogfight, while Islamabad maintained it never deployed an F-16, neither did it sustain any losses. </s> This story is from February 28, 2019

Representative image

NEW DELHI: The government said that IAF had "successfully foiled" an attempt by Pakistan to "target military installations" across the LoC by shooting down one of its jets - probably an F-16 - but also admitted it had lost a MiG-21 'Bison' fighter and that one of the Indian pilots had gone "missing while in action".Pakistan said the pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, was in its custody. It also released several videos, in one of which he was seen being assaulted by civilians upon landing in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir after ejecting from his MiG-21.Pakistan claimed its fighters "locked on" to six Indian military targets, ranging from the brigade headquarters at Bhimber Gali to an ammunition dump at Narian, to demonstrate its "capability and resolve" but chose to drop bombs in open spaces to avoid any casualties.India disputed Pakistan's account that the latter's jets could have hit Indian military assets but chose to spare them, and described PAF's action as an unprovoked aggression that was thwarted by the scrambling of MiG-21s to intercept the Pakistani fighters. In the ensuing dogfight, one of the MiG-21s fired an R-73 missile to down a Pakistani fighter, while a MiG-21 was hit either by a missile fired by a Pakistani fighter or a surface-to-air missile.Pakistan also claimed through the day - an assertion endorsed by Pakistani PM Imran Khan in his televised address - that it had another Indian pilot in custody, who was admitted in its military hospital due to injuries, after shooting down two IAF fighters in the aerial engagement. But it backtracked in the evening, saying it had "only one pilot in Pakistan army's custody", who was being treated as per "norms of military ethics" .Indian authorities said Pakistan probably mistook the pilot of its fighter jet, which had been shot down, for one belonging to the IAF. "The downed Pakistani fighter was in all probability an F-16 but it cannot be conclusively ascertained. Our Army troops saw it falling from the sky towards the Lam-Khuretta area in POK, with the pilot ejecting out. The Pakistan army probably saw two parachutes, one of the Pakistani pilot and the other of Varthaman, and thought two IAF pilots had been shot down," a source said.The heightened tensions in the morning led Pakistan to shut down its entire airspace, with India too temporarily suspending its civilian air traffic in its northern region. In the afternoon, India summoned the acting high commissioner of Pakistan to issue a strong demarche against the "unprovoked act of aggression by Pakistan", including violation of the Indian air space by PAF and targeting of Indian military posts."It was clearly conveyed that India reserves the right to take firm and decisive action to protect its national security, sovereignty and territorial integrity against any act of aggression or cross-border terrorism ," the ministry of external affairs said. </s> India on Thursday strongly rejected any probability of a deal with Pakistan to secure the return of Indian Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, the IAF pilot captured by Pakistan, and insisted on his immediate return, government sources said on Thursday.

The sources said Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has to walk the talk on investigating the deadly Pulwama attack and that India wants immediate, credible and verifiable action against terrorists and their proxies.

"India has not asked for any consular access to the IAF pilot. We want him back immediately," a source told a news agency.

Meanwhile, Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said, "We are willing to return the captured Indian pilot if it leads to de-escalation. Prime Minister Imran Khan is ready to hold a telephonic conversation with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi."

Denouncing Pakistan's breach of the Line of Control, they said their air force "specifically targeted Indian military facilities, while we targeted only Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror camp".

Tensions between India and Pakistan are at an all-time high since the February 14 attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama that left 40 paramilitary troopers dead. On February 26, the Indian Air Force carried out a pre-dawn airstrike deep inside Pakistan's territory in Balakot. The government of India officially called it an "intelligence-led, non-military, pre-emptive action".

The airstrike significantly heightened tensions between India and Pakistan which worsened on February 27, when Pakistani jets and Indian fighters had an aerial confrontation over Jammu and Kashmir. Indian Air Force's MiG-21 fighter jets managed to shoot down a Pakistani jet, something that Islamabad refused.

However, an Indian fighter jet was also "lost" in the confrontation, the government said, and its pilot was "missing in action", as per reports. </s> According to the NDTV broadcaster, the Indian Air Force's planes prevented the Pakistani fighters from delivering precision strikes against ground targets on India-controlled disputed Kashmir regionEight fighter jets of the Indian Air Force took on 24 Pakistani jets in an unprecedented air combat over the India-controlled disputed Kashmir region, India's NDTV television reported on Thursday.According to the TV Channel, the Pakistani Air Force strike group included eight F-16s, four Mirage-3 aircraft and four Chinese-made JF-17 "Thunder" fighters. The other aircraft were escort fighters to protect the Pakistan strike formation from any retaliation."The large Pakistani attack formation was detected at 9.45 am, when they came within 10 km of the Line of Control," the TV Channel reported.The Pakistani aircraft were intercepted by eight jets of the Indian Air Force, which included four Sukhoi Su-30MKIs, two upgraded Mirage 2000s and two MiG 21 planes, the TV Channel reported.The Indian Air Force's planes prevented the Pakistani fighters from delivering precision strikes against ground targets on the India-controlled territory of the disputed Kashmir region, the TV Channel said.The details of the first massive air combat between the Indian and Pakistani fighters since the third Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 emerged as India waited for the release of Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman from Pakistan's captivity.The wing commander was in pursuit of a Pakistani F-16 jet, which he shot down with an R-73 air-to-air missile."Both pilots were seen parachuting down on the Pakistani side of the Line of Control," the TV Channel said.At that moment, an AMRAAM (Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile) struck his aircraft, after which Varthaman was forced to eject and landed onto the Pakistani side of the Line of Control, where he was captured, the TV Channel said.The tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad heightened after an Indian paramilitary convoy was attacked in Jammu and Kashmir on February 14, which claimed the lives of 45 people. The Jaish-e-Mohammed group, which aims at separating Kashmir from India and bringing it under Pakistan's control, claimed responsibility for the February 14 attack.Last Tuesday, India delivered an air strike against the camp of that grouping in the Pakistan-controlled part of the Kashmir region. On Wednesday, the Pakistani Air Force retaliated by an air strike on Indian military installations. Both India and Pakistan claimed they had shot down each other's aircraft during the dogfight.The situation in Jammu and Kashmir, India's sole state with the predominantly Muslim population, has remained tense for many years. In the India-controlled part, secessionist militant groupings are active. New Delhi accuses Islamabad of supporting terrorists. Pakistan rejects these accusations. </s> ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan confirmed on Wednesday that it had carried out airstrikes in Indian-controlled Kashmir and shot down two Indian jets in its own airspace, capturing one of the pilots as the conflict with its nuclear-armed neighbor continued to escalate.

“Today, Pakistan Air Force undertook strikes across Line of Control from within Pakistani airspace,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The Pakistan military said Indian jets had entered Pakistan in response and two had been shot down, with one pilot captured.
The Pakistani Air Force (PAF) conducted six airstrikes in Indian-administered Kashmir, shooting down one Indian aircraft and capturing its pilot following a dogfight. Pakistani officials claimed that they have shot down two Indian Air Force (IAF) jets. Wreckage of one aircraft fell in Azad Kashmir while the other fell in Indian-administered Kashmir. Indian officials initially rejected that any of their pilot was in captured, however, once the footage of Indian pilot in Pakistan's custody were released on the internet, Indian officials admitted that their pilot was captured and his aircraft was shot down. India officials also claimed to have shot down one Pakistani Air Force (PAF) jet that violated its airspace. However, Indian officials claim were rejected by Pakistan.