India’s air force chief has claimed that the country’s forces shot down five Pakistani fighter jets and another large military aircraft during intense clashes in May, the first official acknowledgment of such details since the deadly confrontation with Pakistan earlier this year.
Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh made the statement on Saturday while speaking at a military lecture in Bengaluru. His remarks come weeks after India had conceded that an unspecified number of its own aircraft were lost during what both sides described as the most severe aerial combat in decades, involving fighter jets, cruise missiles, and resulting in dozens of deaths.
“We have confirmed kills of at least five fighter aircraft and one larger plane,” Singh said, noting that the larger target, possibly a surveillance aircraft, was destroyed at a distance of 300km (186 miles). He credited India’s S-400 air defence systems with intercepting most of the Pakistani jets.
“This is the largest documented surface-to-air engagement we can report. Our air defence teams have performed remarkably,” he added, as quoted by several Indian news outlets.
Pakistan Rejects India’s Claim
Pakistan’s government swiftly dismissed the Indian account. Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif accused New Delhi of spreading falsehoods, insisting that no Pakistani aircraft were destroyed.
“If there is any doubt, both sides should make their aircraft inventories available for independent inspection though we believe such a step would expose the truth India is trying to hide,” Asif wrote on social media.
He further warned that “such absurd narratives, driven by domestic political motives, raise the dangerous risk of strategic misjudgment in a nuclear-armed region.”
Details on Alleged Targets
While Singh did not specify the models of the downed Pakistani fighter jets, he claimed that Indian strikes also damaged another surveillance aircraft and destroyed “a few F-16s” that were parked inside hangars at two airbases in southeastern Pakistan.
According to Singh, part of the F-16 storage facility at the Shahbaz Jacobabad airbase in Sindh province was destroyed in the strikes.
Pakistan’s air force operates mostly Chinese-built aircraft and American-made F-16s. Islamabad has consistently denied that any of its planes were shot down during the May 7–10 battles.
Background to the Escalation
The confrontation was sparked by the April 22 killing of 26 tourists in Pahalgam, a town in Indian-administered Kashmir, by armed attackers.
During the fighting, Pakistan claimed it had downed six Indian aircraft, including three Rafale fighters a statement an Indian military source dismissed as “completely untrue.”
Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan territory, remains at the heart of tensions between India and Pakistan, both of which claim it in full but control separate portions. Armed insurgency against Indian rule in its administered region has persisted since 1989.
India accuses Pakistan of providing military support to militant groups, while Islamabad insists it offers only diplomatic and political backing to the Kashmiri cause.
Continuing Tensions
Although the two sides agreed to a ceasefire in May, sporadic clashes between Indian security forces and fighters continue.
On Friday night, two Indian soldiers and a suspected militant were killed in Kulgam district of Indian-administered Kashmir, according to Indian officials. Two additional soldiers were injured in the encounter.
Source News: Pakistan News Beat Agency!
Journalist: Muqadas Pervaiz
