Indian Air Force Shoots Down Pakistani Fighter

India’s Asian News International (ANI) agency noted that the pilot ejected and opened his parachute, adding that the plane reportedly crashed on the Pakistani territory.

Pakistan has shut down five airports, including in the capital of Islamabad. All of them have stopped servicing domestic and international flights.

In turn, Indian authorities shut down the Sheikh ul-Alam International Airport in Srinagar, Kashmir. Three smaller airports in the area suspended commercial flights over safety concerns. India’s Vistara reported that flights to Kashmir and Jammu have been suspended. The airspace in Northern India has been declared temporarily closed for security reasons and many civil flights have been canceled.

It came after Pakistan claimed that it has shot down two Indian military jets, which violated its airspace, and captured a pilot amid escalating tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors over the recent developments in disputed Kashmir.

The series of incidents occurred the next day after the Indian Air Force had delivered strikes on a militant camp belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammad group near Balakot, in the area of Kashmir controlled by Pakistan.

The group, which aims at separating Kashmir from India and bringing it under Pakistan’s control, claimed responsibility for the mid-February attack on an Indian paramilitary convoy, which had killed 45.

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