US mainstream newspaper New York Times (NYT) reported that officials and witnesses said that at least two Indian aircraft had crashed after India struck Pakistani targets, escalating the conflict between the nuclear powers.
India said early Wednesday that it had conducted several airstrikes on Pakistan, hailing a ‘victory’ in the name of 'vengeance' for the attack that killed 26 civilians in Occupied Kashmir last month.
NYT stated evidence was also growing that the Indian forces may have taken heavy losses during the operation.
At least two aircraft were said to have gone down in India and the Indian Occupied Kashmir, according to three officials, local news reports, and accounts of witnesses who had seen the debris of two.
The two countries have fought repeated wars, with the disputed area of Kashmir as a prime flashpoint, since Pakistan was cleaved off from India in 1947 at the end of the British colonial rule in the subcontinent.
Pakistani government called the Indian strikes “an unprovoked and blatant act of war” that had “violated Pakistan’s sovereignty.”
Pakistani military officials said they had begun a “measured but forceful” response, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif claimed that the country’s forces had downed five Indian aircraft — a claim that could not be verified.
Indian officials confirm
The New York Times said one Indian official confirmed the crash of three aircraft, but cautioned that the reasons were not clear. Two other Indian security officials confirmed reports that some Indian aircraft had gone down, but would not elaborate on the details. They all spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of military action.
News channels and witnesses said at least one aircraft had gone down on the Indian side of Kashmir. A second aircraft was reported to have been downed in the Indian state of Punjab, according to Indian news reports and a witness account.
Analyzing witness photos from one wreckage site, in the village of Wuyan in India-Occupied Kashmir, a weapons researcher identified the debris as an external fuel tank for a plane.
The New York Times quoting the analyst, Trevor Ball, of Armament Research Services, said the tank was likely from a Rafale or Mirage fighter jet, both of which are made by the French manufacturer Dassault Aviation and used by India.
At the White House, President Trump called the escalation between India and Pakistan “a shame.”
“We just heard about it,” he said of the Indian strikes. “They’ve been fighting for a long time. I just hope it ends very quickly.” Shortly after the strikes, the Indian national security adviser, Ajit Doval, briefed Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the military actions, according to Indian officials.
A spokesman for the U.N. secretary general, António Guterres, called for restraint from the two sides, adding, “The world cannot afford a military confrontation between India and Pakistan.”
Which civilian places were targeted in Indian missile attack?
Rising hostilities between India and Pakistan have once again brought the longstanding Kashmir conflict into sharp focus, with recent missile strikes targeting several civilian locations in Pakistan, including Bahawalpur, Kotli, Bagh, Shakargarh, and Muridke.
The attacks have intensified fears of a broader conflict rooted in the unresolved Kashmir dispute, a flashpoint between India and Pakistan since their partition in 1947.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars over Kashmir and narrowly avoided a fourth in 2019.
