Pakistan says 2 Indian warplanes downed, 2 pilots captured

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan’s air force shot down two Indian warplanes after they crossed the boundary between the two nuclear-armed rivals in the disputed territory of Kashmir yesterday and captured two Indian pilots, one of whom was injured, a military spokesperson 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.

Pakistan’s army spokesperson Major-General Asif Ghafoor said Pakistani troops on the ground captured the pilots. 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.

The injured pilot was being treated at a military hospital, Ghafoor told a news conference in the garrison town of Rawalpindi. He did not elaborate beyond saying the pilots were being “treated well” and made no mention of them being returned to India.

Ghafoor struck a conciliatory tone. “We have no intention of escalation, but are fully prepared to do so if forced into that paradigm,” he added.

Indian air force spokesperson 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 wasn’t immediately known if there were casualties.