Pakistan-India: Pakistan 'shoots down two Indian jets' over Kashmir

Pakistan says it has shot down two Indian Air Force jets in a major escalation of the Kashmir conflict.

A spokesman said one plane had fallen inside Pakistani territory and two pilots had been arrested. There is no comment from India. Pakistan has denied reports one of its jets was shot down.

Both India and Pakistan claim all of Kashmir, but control only parts of it.

The nuclear powers have fought several wars since independence from Britain in 1947. All but one were over Kashmir.

The aerial attacks across the Line of Control (LoC) dividing Indian and Pakistani territory are the first since a war in 1971.

They follow a militant attack in Kashmir which killed 40 Indian troops - the deadliest to take place during a three-decade insurgency against Indian rule in Kashmir. A Pakistan-based group said it carried out the attack.

Pakistan's assertion that it had shot down two Indian aircraft came shortly after Islamabad said its warplanes had struck targets in Indian territory.

Pakistan said it had "taken strikes at [a] non-military target, avoiding human loss and collateral damage".

Indian authorities said the Pakistani jets had been pushed back.

In a briefing, Maj Gen Ghafoor says that Pakistan "had no alternative to respond" to Tuesday's Indian air strikes on its territory.

However he said Pakistan had not hit Indian military targets because "we don't want to go on the path of war".

India said Tuesday's air strikes on Balakot in north-western Pakistan killed a large number of militants but Pakistan said there had been no casualties.

India has reportedly announced restrictions on its airspace. The Vistara airline said flights in the region were being suspended. Pakistan has also stopped flights from at least five airports including Islamabad and Lahore, reports say.

The flight monitoring group Flight Radar says international flights are also avoiding the area.

Source : bbc News