ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Wednesday it had downed five Indian fighter jets in a major escalation between the nuclear-armed South Asian rivals, a claim partly corroborated by Indian government sources who confirmed at least three, as the international community urged both countries to exercise restraint and avoid further conflict.
The military confrontation follows a missile attack by India on Tuesday, when the Indian armed forces said they had struck nine Pakistani sites described as “terrorist infrastructure” allegedly linked to an April 22 militant assault in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
According to Pakistan’s military, six locations across its territory, including Ahmedpur East, Muridke, Sialkot, Shakargarh, Kotli and Muzaffarabad, were targeted, resulting in the deaths of 26 civilians and injuries to at least 46 others.
Pakistan said it had also responded to the Indian strikes, though details were a bit murky initially.
“The aggression they committed has been responded to by Pakistan many times over,” Pakistan’s Information Minister Ataullah Tarar said in a televised statement on Wednesday.
“Not only were five of their jets shot down, but a drone was also brought down,” he added. “We also targeted their posts along the Line of Control. Their posts were destroyed, and they were forced to wave the white flag.”
According to Reuters, local government sources on the Indian side of Jammu and Kashmir said three of their fighter jets had “crashed” in the region. Pakistan’s military also told the news agency it had shot down five Indian aircraft, though the Indian authorities have not officially confirmed any planes were brought down by hostile fire.
In New Delhi, the Indian defense ministry maintained that its strikes had targeted militant infrastructure and avoided civilian or military installations.
The escalation prompted immediate international concern. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was closely monitoring the situation and echoed President Donald Trump’s earlier remarks hoping the conflict would end quickly.
“I will continue to engage both Indian and Pakistani leadership toward a peaceful resolution,” he said.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres urged both nations to exercise “maximum military restraint,” warning that the world could not afford a broader military confrontation between the two nuclear-armed countries.
China’s foreign ministry also called on both sides to de-escalate and said it regretted India’s military action while expressing concern about the rising tensions.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) during the day to finalize Islamabad’s response and review military preparedness.
Authorities in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province declared an emergency, placed hospitals and security forces on high alert and ordered schools to remain closed.
The latest crisis was triggered by the April 22 attack in Pahalgam, a popular tourist destination in Indian-administered Kashmir, in which 26 people were killed. India accused Pakistan of orchestrating the attack but provided no public evidence.
Pakistan, in response, denied any involvement and called for an international investigation.
Kashmir has remained a flashpoint between the two countries since 1947. Both nations claim the region in full but administer separate portions. They have fought two of their three wars over the disputed territory, and tensions have remained high, particularly since India revoked the special semi-autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019.
India accuses Pakistan of supporting militant groups that have waged an insurgency in Indian-administered Kashmir since 1989, a charge Islamabad denies, saying it provides only moral and diplomatic support for the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination.
The current confrontation recalls the last major military standoff between the two nations in 2019, when an Indian airstrike in Balakot was followed by Pakistani retaliatory action, including the downing of an Indian fighter jet and the capture of its pilot, who was later released in a gesture of goodwill.
