CNN
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The Indian army confirmed for the first time that an unspecified number of fighters had been shot down during a strike on Pakistan-controlled territory amid a fierce battle among its neighbors in early May.
Indian officials had previously refused to confirm the loss of a single aircraft.
On Saturday, a Bloomberg correspondent asked if Pakistan was correct in claiming that “six Indian jets” had fallen. Anil Chauhan, the head of national defense of the Indian Army, initially denied the truth behind the claims, saying, “It’s absolutely wrong.
But he went on to say, “What’s important is the reason they fell.” It appears to imply that many jets were fired down while fighting among historic enemies. “That’s more important to us. And what have we done after that? It’s even more important,” he said.
Officials also answered another question about Pakistan’s claims and accepted that the Indian military had made a “tactical mistake.”
“The good part is that we understood the tactical mistakes we made, improved it, fixed it, implemented it again two days later, flew all the jets and targeted them again over long distances,” he said.
Pakistan claimed that after India launched a military operation against Pakistan in early May, the pilots shot down five Indian fighters, including three advanced French-made Rafares from India. Pakistan said it used Chinese-made fighter jets to shoot down Indian fighters, including Rafares.
India initially denied the claim, saying that Narin Kohli, a spokesman for India’s Bharatiya Janata Party, “If that was the case, and if that level had happened, I would have said so.”
A senior official from the French intelligence agency told CNN at the time that one of the Indian Air Force-run Lafale fighters fell by Pakistan, and that French authorities were considering whether multiple fighters were defeated. An Indian witness also told CNN that he saw one aircraft plunging from the sky.
The fighting was a major escalation among South Asian neighbours, responding to the murder of tourists in India-controlled Kashmir in April. India blamed Pakistan for its attack, but was rejected by Islamabad. A ceasefire between Islamabad and New Delhi was announced on May 10th.
CNN’s Benjamin Brown, Matthew Chance, Sofia Saifi and Saska Vandorn contributed to this report.
