Pakistan Claims Multiple Indian Fighter Jets Downed

Pakistan has claimed it shot down multiple Indian fighter jets — with reports ranging from three to five — after India launched strikes on nine “terrorist” facilities in retaliation for the April killings of tourists in Pahalgam.

In a sharp escalation between South Asia’s nuclear-armed rivals, India’s Defence Ministry confirmed it launched “Operation Sindoor” early Wednesday, targeting nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

According to the Indian military, the strikes were aimed at “terrorist infrastructure” linked to the April 22 attack in Pahalgam, Indian-administered Kashmir, where 25 Indian nationals and one Nepali citizen were killed.

“A little while ago, the Indian Armed Forces launched ‘Operation Sindoor,’ hitting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed,” the Indian Defence Ministry said in a midnight statement. “Our actions have been focused, measured, and non-escalatory. No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted.”

Pakistan reported civilian casualties. Military spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said India’s missile strikes hit six locations, killing eight people, including a three-year-old girl in a mosque, and injuring more than 35 others. Two people were reported missing.

Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar told Al Jazeera, “India attacked civilian populations without any evidence or investigation. Two mosques have been hit. Pakistan, defending its territorial integrity, has responded by shooting down five Indian Air Force planes, one drone, and several quadcopters.”

However, Reuters cited local sources reporting that three Indian fighter jets crashed in Jammu and Kashmir hours after the strikes. Another Reuters report said Pakistan claimed to have shot down five Indian fighter jets. Four local government sources in Indian Kashmir told the agency that three Indian fighter jets crashed overnight in separate parts of the Himalayan region — all three pilots were rushed to the hospital.

Dramatic images circulating on local media showed a massive, mangled, silver-colored chunk of aircraft wreckage lying in a field at one crash site.

“The Pakistan Air Force has shot down at least five Indian fighter jets in response to India’s recent cross-border aggression,” Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told broadcaster Geo TV.

Earlier, military spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry told CNN that two Indian Air Force aircraft had been downed. “There are other reports of multiple damage that Pakistani forces, both on the ground and air, have inflicted. But I can confirm to you that at least two aircraft of the Indian Air Force have been downed,” he said.

So far, Pakistan has provided no evidence to support its claims, and India has not confirmed them. Meanwhile, photographs circulating in media reports and on social media claim to show downed aircraft debris, though some analysts say the images are old.