The Indian Air Force on Monday said it has “irrefutable evidence” of shooting down an F-16 aircraft of Pakistan Air Force during the February 27 aerial combat.
Air Vice Marshal R.G.K. Kapoor, at a media briefing, showed radar images to assert that an F-16 of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) was shot down by the Indian Air Force.
#WATCH: Air Vice Marshal RGK Kapoor in the radar images shows the location of the shooting down of F-16 of Pakistan Air Force (PAF) by Indian Mig piloted by Wing Commander Abhinandan pic.twitter.com/CPuf2qf0nT
— ANI (@ANI) April 8, 2019
The IAF has more credible information and evidence that is clearly indicative of the fact that PAF has lost one F-16 in the air action on February 27, he said.
He added that Pakistan also said that they had two pilots, one in custody and other admitted to the hospital.
Air Vice Marshal: DG-ISPR also stated on camera in press conference that they had 2 pilots,1 in custody&other admitted to hospital.Same was also corroborated by statement of Pak PM, all this proves total of 2 aircraft had gone down that day in same area separated by about 1.5 min https://t.co/F0oQYIUMq6
— ANI (@ANI) April 8, 2019
On Friday, United States (US) officials did a count of Islamabad’s F-16 jets recently and found that none were missing, contradicting India’s claims that it shot down a Pakistani fighter jet amid heightened tensions between both countries after the Pulwama attack.
According to a report by the Foreign Policy, one of the unnamed senior US defence officials “with direct knowledge of the count” said that Pakistan had invited the US to count its F-16 planes after the incident “as part of an end-user agreement signed when the foreign military sale was finalised”.
Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan while reacting over the report that all Pakistani F-16 jets are accounted for which countered Indian claims, said that ‘truth always prevails’.