Pakistan shoots down five Indian fighter jets; eight Pakistani martyred: ISPR

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s military said on Tuesday it had shot down five Indian fighter jets, including three Rafale aircraft, in what it described as a defensive response to the attack by the neighbouring country.

Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director-General Lt-Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry to Reuters that the downed aircraft also included one Su-30 and one MiG-29, all of which were reportedly flying in Indian airspace at the time.

“Pakistan Air Force engaged and shot down three Rafale jets, one Su-30 and one MiG-29 that were being flown by India,” the spokesman said. He did not provide details on the time or location of the incidents.

India carried out 24 cowardly attacks at six different locations, resulting in the martyrdom of eight Pakistanis and injuries to 35 others, ISPR Director General Lt-Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said earlier at a press conference.

He said that India carried out the “cowardly” missile strikes in Kotli, Bahawalpur, Muridke, Bagh, and Muzaffarabad. the DG ISPR said that India launched unprovoked and cowardly attacks at six sites. Following the Indian aggression, two nuclear powers now stand face to face.

Lt-Gen Sharif said that “This is a flagrant violation of international law,” he said while talking to the BBC.

He said that the military was already retaliating for the “cowardly attack” that occurred after midnight.

Calling its campaign “Operation Sindoor”, India said it struck nine Pakistani sites on Wednesday that were “terrorist infrastructure” where attacks against it were orchestrated. Islamabad said six Pakistani locations were targeted.

According to security sources, the Pakistan Army and Pakistan Air Force were also providing a “strong and decisive response” to India’s barbaric strike.

Meanwhile, Pakistan on late Tuesday strongly condemned India’s “cowardly action” of missile strikes, terming it a flagrant violation of the UN Charter, international law, and established norms of inter-state relations.

“Pakistan reserves the right to respond appropriately at a time and place of its choosing, in accordance with the Article-51 of the UN Charter, and as enshrined in international law,” the Foreign Office said in a statement issued here.

India on late Tuesday conducted missile strikes at five locations in Pakistan, killing a child and injuring two others including a woman.

The FO statement said, “In an unprovoked and blatant act of war, the Indian Air Force, while remaining within Indian airspace, has violated Pakistan’s sovereignty using standoff weapons, targeting civilian population across the international border in Muridke and Bahawalpur, and across Line of Control in Kotli and Muzaffarabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir.”

India’s act of aggression has resulted in the martyrdom of civilians, including women and children. This act of aggression has also caused a grave threat to commercial air traffic, it said.

The Foreign Office said that in the wake of Pahalgam attack, the Indian leadership had once again used the bogey of terrorism to advance its “sham narrative of victimhood, jeopardizing regional peace and security.”

It mentioned that India’s reckless action has brought the two nuclear-armed states closer to a major conflict.

“The government, armed forces and people of Pakistan stand united in the face of Indian aggression. They will always act with iron resolve to protect and preserve the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan,” it said.

The Indian attack comes almost three weeks after the Pahalgam attack in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, where 26 tourists were killed.

Earlier, India said it carried out “precision strikes at terrorist camps” inside Pakistan and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir.

The long-simmering conflict between the neighbouring nuclear powers intensified dramatically overnight. Fighter jets roared through the skies over the Himalayan territory and the sounds of explosions could be heard near the so-called Line of Control.

The Indian army, in a video posted on its X account, said “justice is served,” with New Delhi adding that its actions “have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature”.

“No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted,” it added. “India has demonstrated considerable restraint in the selection of targets and method of execution”.

Indian fighter jets could be heard flying over Srinagar while explosions were heard in Wuyan, a few kilometers (miles) from Srinagar’s military headquarters, AFP reported.

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Since the Pahalgam attack, both countries have exchanged gunfire along the LoC in Kashmir and ordered the main land border crossing shut.

Earlier, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the military “operational freedom” to respond to a deadly attack in Kashmir that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan, which vehemently dismissed the accusation.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that India fired missiles from its own airspace. Talking to Geo TV, he said that India launched missiles at Pakistan from within its own airspace.

He said that the strikes hit civilian areas. India’s claim of “targeting terrorist camps” is false, he said.

The development comes as countries from China to the United States and the United Nations expressed deep concerns over the nuclear-armed neighbours’ mounting tensions and urged restraint.

Several airlines including India’s largest airline, IndiGo INGL.NS, Air India and Qatar Airways cancelled flights in areas of India and Pakistan due to closures of airports and airspace.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence, two of them over Kashmir, in 1947 and 1965. A third in 1971 led to the creation of Bangladesh. In 1999, they clashed again in the Kargil region in what was described as an undeclared war. A U.N.-brokered ceasefire line, the Line of Control, now divides the region.

Many Muslims in Indian Kashmir have long resented what they see as heavy-handed rule by India. In 1989, that bubbled over into an insurgency by Muslim separatists. India poured troops into the region and tens of thousands of people have been killed.

In August 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government revoked Kashmir’s semi-autonomous status in a move it said would better integrate the region with the rest of the country. The state was reorganised into two federally administered union territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. Pakistan strongly objected, downgrading diplomatic ties with India.