Indian Air Force Plane Crashes in Kashmir Killing Both Pilots after Incursion by Pakistan Jets

By Staff, Agencies

An Indian air force plane crashed in Kashmir after aircraft were scrambled to intercept Pakistani combat jets that crossed the line of control, police and officials said.

Two pilots and a civilian were killed in the crash, an Indian police spokesman said.

No further details were immediately available on the crash, but it came as an Indian official told the Reuters news agency that at least three aircraft from Pakistan had crossed the de facto border into India's side of the disputed Kashmir region.

The official said India had scrambled its jets in response, and that the Pakistani aircraft had then returned.

The incident comes a day after India said its aircraft bombed a militant training camp in Pakistani territory before dawn on Tuesday morning. The two countries disagreed over the impact the airstrikes had on the ground, but an Indian government minister said it had "completely destroyed" a major base of the so-called Jaish-e-Mohammed [JeM], the militant group which claimed the deadly 14 February car bomb attack on Indian soldiers in Pulwama, Kashmir.

Meanwhile on Wednesday morning the Pakistani police reported Indian shelling across the treaty-agreed line of control in Kashmir had killed at least six civilians on the Pakistan side.

Indian and Pakistani forces regularly exchange fire across the border region, but observers say fighting has been particularly fierce since news broke of India's air sortie on Tuesday. It was the first time either side had conducted airstrikes across the line of control since the last major war between the two countries over Kashmir ended in 1971.

Since the 14 February bombing, which killed 40 Indian paramilitary officers and which the Indian government blamed on Pakistan, the international community has urged both sides to exercise restraint and avoid further military escalation.