India shot down several Pakistani warplanes, preventing them from entering the country’s airspace, Indian Air Force Air Marshal AK Bharti said at a briefing.
“Their planes were not allowed to fly over our border,” he said. “We definitely shot down several planes, and they have suffered losses on their part.”
“We are still in a fighting situation, and if I comment on something, it will become an advantage for the enemy, and we do not want to give him any advantage at this stage. All I can say is that we have achieved our goals, which we have chosen, and all our pilots have returned home,” he said.
Earlier, Pakistan’s military said it had shot down five Indian jets, including three French Rafale fighter aircraft, inside India.
“So far, the Pakistan army, in its defence and its response to the enemy, has shot down five jets and a combat drone. They attacked Pakistan,” said military spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry.
“The India air Force jets include three Rafale, one MiG-29, and one Su-30 aircraft.”
Air Marshal Bharti declined to discuss the Indian Air Force’s losses but appeared to hint at potential losses. Pakistan, so far, has not been able to provide conclusive evidence of any shootdown.
Earlier, on February 27, 2019, tensions between India and Pakistan escalated following India’s airstrikes in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, a response to a terrorist attack in Pulwama, India.
Pakistan retaliated with airstrikes, leading to aerial combat over Kashmir, where an IAF MiG-21 Bison, flown by Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, was shot down. India claimed to have shot down a Pakistani F-16, but the PAF outrightly rejected the claims.
India & Pakistan: A History Of Conflicts
India and Pakistan announced a ceasefire on Saturday after days of deadly attacks and counter-attacks that killed more than 60 civilians on both sides.
The latest clashes follow an attack last month in the Indian-administered side of Kashmir that killed 26 tourists, mostly Hindu men, which Delhi blamed on Islamabad. Pakistan rejects the charge.
Fighting erupted after New Delhi launched missile strikes on its arch-rival Wednesday, with waves of drone, jet fighter, and artillery attacks reported over the next three days on both sides.
The nuclear-armed countries agreed Saturday to a full and immediate ceasefire. Since their bloody partition in 1947, the two sides have fought multiple conflicts, ranging from skirmishes to all-out war.
Rafale Crash: Why Is U.S. Media “Celebrating” Alleged Downfall Of IAF’s French-Supplied Jets? OPED
1947: Partition
A UN-backed, 770-kilometre (480-mile) ceasefire line in January 1949 divides Kashmir.
1965: Kashmir
Pakistan launched a second war in August 1965 when it invaded India-administered Kashmir. Thousands are killed before a September ceasefire brokered by the Soviet Union and the United States.
1971: Bangladesh
Pakistan deployed troops in 1971 to suppress an independence movement in what is now Bangladesh, which it had governed since 1947 as East Pakistan.
An estimated three million people are killed in the nine-month conflict, and millions flee to India. India invades, leading to the creation of the independent nation of Bangladesh.
1989-90: Kashmir
An uprising breaks out in Kashmir in 1989 as grievances at Indian rule boil over. Tens of thousands of soldiers, rebels, and civilians are killed in the following decades.
India accuses Pakistan of funding the rebels and aiding their weapons training.
1999: Kargil
Pakistan-backed militants seize Indian military posts in the icy heights of the Kargil mountains.
Pakistan yields after severe pressure from Washington, alarmed by intelligence reports showing Islamabad had deployed part of its nuclear arsenal nearer to the conflict. At least 1,000 people are killed over 10 weeks.
2019: Kashmir
A suicide attack on a convoy of Indian security forces kills 40 in Pulwama.
India, which is busy with campaigning for general elections, sends fighter jets that launched air strikes on Pakistani territory to target an alleged militant training camp.
One Indian jet is shot down over Pakistani-controlled territory, with the captured pilot safely released within days back to India.
2025
On April 22, 26 tourists, mostly Hindu men, were killed by an attack by militants in Pahalgam, in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Delhi accuses Pakistan of backing the militants, a charge Islamabad denies, and threatens retaliation.
On May 7, India launches “Operation Sindoor,” and missiles strike what New Delhi calls “terrorist camps” in Pakistan.
Pakistan’s military claimed to have downed five Indian jets across the border in the initial assault, but New Delhi does not respond to the claims.
Both sides accuse the other of sending over waves of armed drones, and there are fierce exchanges of artillery fire across their border as well as the Line of Control in Kashmir.
On Saturday, Pakistan’s military said three of its air bases were attacked, including one on the outskirts of the capital, Islamabad. It launched counter-attacks, which India says cause “limited damage”.
On Sunday, reports of ceasefire violations by Pakistan have started to emerge in the Indian media.
With Inputs from Agence France-Presse
