India demands Pakistan release pilot as Kashmir crisis intensifies

India has demanded the release of a fighter pilot shot down by Pakistan warplanes in a major escalation between the two nuclear powers over Kashmir.

Video showing the pilot - blindfolded and with blood on his face - was shared by Pakistan's information ministry.

India described the images as a "vulgar display of an injured personnel".

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

The incident, in which Pakistan said it had shot down two military jets, has escalated tensions between the two nations, both of whom claim all of Kashmir, but control only parts of it.

It comes a day after India struck what it said was a militant camp in Pakistan in retaliation for a suicide bombing that killed at least 40 Indian troops in Kashmir.

A Pakistan-based group said it carried out the attack - the deadliest to take place during a three-decade insurgency against Indian rule in Kashmir.

On Wednesday, the US urged India and Pakistan to avoid further military action and said it was focused on de-escalating the tension between the two sides.

Source : bbc  News