Indian officials have confirmed that one of country’s air force air fighter jet was ‘lost’ in an air skirmish with Pakistan.
Addressing a press conference, a spokesperson for the Indian MEA said, “We unfortunately lost one MiG-21 in this engagement and an Indian pilot is missing in action. Pakistan claims the pilot is in their custody, however, we are ascertaining the facts.”
“In the aerial engagement, a Pakistan fighter aircraft was shot down by a MiG-21 Bison. The aircraft was seen by ground forces falling on the Pakistan side,” he added.
India has yet to ascertain that the missing pilot is in Pakistan’s custody, said Raveesh Kumar, India’s foreign ministry spokesman in a media briefing in New Delhi, in India’s first statement on today’s events.
According to some source, on Wednesday morning two JF-17 fighter jets of Pakistan Air force shot down Indian Mi-17 helicopter and violated into India’s airspace. After that, Indian Air Force scrambled two its MiG-21 fighter jets to intercept Pakistani JF-17s but lost one aircraft in action.
The Pakistani military has said that the Indian Air Force plane was downed on the Pakistani side of the line of control in Kashmir — a boundary separating the disputed Himalayan region between the nuclear armed neighbours.
Later was released video of the captured Indian pilot.
In the video, the captured pilot can be heard saying: “My name is Wing Commander Abhinandan. My service number is 27981. I am a flying pilot. My religion is Hindu.”
When asked to share more, the arrested pilot can be heard saying: “I’m sorry sir, that’s all I’m supposed to tell you.”