Two Indian warplanes SHUTDOWN after going into disputed territory by Pakistani Air Force

Major General Asif Ghafoor said Pakistani troops on the ground captured an Indian pilot

Pakistan’s air force has shot down two Indian warplanes after they crossed the boundary between the two nuclear-armed rivals in the disputed territory of Kashmir, a military spokesman said. 


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. Major General Asif Ghafoor said Pakistani troops on the ground captured an Indian pilot.

The moment one of the Indian pilots was detained by Pakistani authorities

One of the downed planes crashed in Pakistan’s part of Kashmir while the other went down in Indian-controlled section of the Himalayan region, he said. Indian air force spokesman Anupam Banerjee in New Delhi said he had no information on Pakistan’s statement. Earlier, senior Indian police officer Munir Ahmed Khan said an Indian Air Force plane crashed in Indian-controlled sector of Kashmir and that it was not immediately known if there were casualties. Another police officer, SP Pani, said firefighters were at the site in the Budgam area where the Indian warplane crashed. Eyewitnesses said soldiers fired into the air to keep residents away from the crash site. Indian news reports said airports in the Indian portion of Kashmir closed for civilian traffic shortly after the air force jet crashed in the area.

One of the planes crashed in Pakistan’s part of Kashmir and the other went down in Indian-controlled Kashmir

The Press Trust of India news agency said these airports were located at Srinagar, Jammu and Leh. Indian authorities declined to comment. Indian administrator Baseer Khan confirmed that the airport in Srinagar, the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir, was closed and said it was a ‘temporary and precautionary measure’. The Press Trust of India said Indian authorities also closed two airports in northern Punjab state, which borders with Pakistan. Meanwhile, the foreign ministry in Islamabad said the country’s air force was carrying out air strikes from within Pakistani airspace across the disputed Kashmir boundary, but that this was not in ‘retaliation to continued Indian belligerence’. The ministry said Wednesday’s strikes were aimed at ‘avoiding human loss and collateral damage’. It said 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’.

Another police officer, SP Pani, said firefighters were at the site in the Budgam area where the warplane crashed

According to local Pakistani police official Mohammad Altaf, the six fatalities in Wednesday’s shelling included children. The shells hit the village of Kotli in Pakistan’s section of Kashmir. 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 air strike and incursion by India on Tuesday that New Delhi said targeted a terrorist training camp in north-western Pakistan. Residents on both sides of the de-factor frontier, the so called Line of Control, said there were exchanges of fire between the two sides through the night. In Pakistan’s part of Kashmir, hundreds of villagers have fled border towns.