Pak jets shot down during Op Sindoor

PAKISTAN'S FORCES ARE HANDLING THE SITUATION WITH RESPONSIBILITY AND RESTRAINT, SPOKESPERSON FOR THE FOREIGN OFFICE SAID

- Rahul Singh

NEW DELHI: India shot down a few high-tech fighter jets of the Pakistan Air Force during Operation Sindoor and the Indian Air Force is poring over the technical details to establish the hits, a top IAF officer said on Sunday while indicating that there were combat losses on the Indian side too but the fighter pilots were back home.

"We don't have the wreckage as their (PAF) planes were prevented from entering our airspace. But we have downed a few planes. I have the numbers, and we are getting into the technical details to establish it. But I would not like to reveal the figure at this time," said Air Marshal AK Bharti, director general air operations.

Bharti and his counterparts from the two services, Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai and Vice Admiral AN Pramod, briefed journalists on Operation Sindoor — New Delhi's direct military response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror strike that killed 26 people.

Asked if IAF suffered losses, Bharti said losses were a part of combat without commenting on what aircraft India lost as that information could give advantage to the enemy.

"We are in a combat scenario; losses are a part of combat," he said. This is the first official comment on the loss of Indian fighter jets during the operation in which the IAF struck terror infrastructure, hit several PAF bases, and attacked and destroyed some of the neighbouring military's air defence sites.