The two nuclear powers, India and Pakistan claim to have shot down each others’ aircraft over disputed Kashmir, with Pakistan releasing vision of a captured pilot.

Pakistan and India go head to head in clashes above Kashmir

Australia has urged Pakistan and India to avoid further military action as the conflict in Kashmir between the two nuclear-armed neighbours heats up.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne said she was very concerned by the reports of the escalation in the conflict, with both countries launching air strikes in the past two days.

It comes as Pakistan’s military said it shot down two Indian warplanes in the disputed region of Kashmir and captured a pilot, answering an airstrike a day earlier by Indian fighter jets inside Pakistan and raising tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals to a level unseen in two decades.

One of the busiest sections along the line of control tonight is the 30 kilometer long stretch of highway connecting #Sialkot with #Gujranwala.



Hundreds of armored vehicles, including tanks and heavy artillery, continue to accumulate in the area. pic.twitter.com/ZqKJOr4PR7 — ᴛʜᴇ ɪɴᴛᴇʟ ᴄʀᴀʙ (@IntelCrab) February 27, 2019

Both sides are reportedly massing troops and tanks along the disputed border, with cities undergoing night-time blackouts and air-raid warning tests. Both Pakistan and India have reportedly sent their major warships and submarines to sea, though this is yet to be confirmed.

“If those reports are correct, we would certainly urge both sides to exercise restraint. To avoid further military action, this is a dangerous cycle of escalation,” Senator Payne said during a visit to London.

“I would encourage direct dialogue between both countries to endeavour to resolve these matters in a peaceful way.” Senator Payne said “the cycle of escalation … is very dangerous for all concerned”.

The Department of Foreign Affairs is monitoring the situation in the two countries but no travel advice has been issued for Australians as yet. Senator Payne was in London for a meeting with her counterpart, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, to discuss a post-Brexit free trade deal between the two countries and the shared efforts to promote the international rules based order.

DOGFIGHT OVER KASHMIR

India and Pakistan's warplanes clashed Wednesday morning above Kashmir, a mountainous region claimed by both India and Pakistan since almost immediately after their creation in 1947. Kashmir is split between Pakistan and India and claimed by both in its entirety.

Though Pakistani and Indian troops in Kashmir often trade fire, the latest casualties came a day after tensions escalated sharply following a pre-dawn airstrike and incursion by India that New Delhi said targeted a terrorist training camp in northwestern Pakistan.

The strike Tuesday was India’s first inside Pakistan since the two nations’ 1971 war over territory that later became Bangladesh. Pakistan said Indian warplanes dropped bombs near the Pakistani town of Balakot but there were no casualties.

Wednesday’s clash came as Pakistan engaged in its own airstrike in retaliation, raising tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals to a level unseen in two decades. Pakistan’s military said it shot down two Indian warplanes in the disputed region of Kashmir and captured a pilot.

MOMENT When #IndianAirForce Pilot, Wing Commander Abhi was arrested alive after successful air combat with #PAF within Pakistani territory. pic.twitter.com/kKCyiqFFxW — Pakistan Defence Command (@PDCMDOfficial) February 27, 2019

Within hours Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan went on television urging peace talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying both countries needed to step back from the brink and warning that “miscalculations” could drag their two countries into a war that neither side would benefit from.

During a televised address, Mr Khan asked: “Can we afford any miscalculation with the kind of weapons that we have and you have? ... Let’s sit together to talk to find a solution.”

There was no reply from Modi, but India acknowledged one of its air force planes was “lost” in skirmishes with Pakistan and that its pilot was “missing in action.”

Another video of the Indian pilot captured by the Pakistani army has been released. He is enjoying the tea on the other side of the border. #kashmir #india #pakistan pic.twitter.com/M1BFEGRNci — salaamedia (@salaamedia) February 27, 2019

BREAKING MOMENTS when Indian Pilot Wing Commander Abhi was captured alive,and Pak Army actually acting to protect him from revenge by locals pic.twitter.com/0mhVpfvjTB — Khalid khi (@khalid_pk) February 27, 2019

Pakistan’s military later circulated a video of a man with a mustache who identified himself as the Indian pilot, sipping tea andresponding to questions, mostly by saying, “You know I can’t answer that.”

He appeared in good health as he was questioned about his hometown, his aircraft and his mission. The downing of the Indian aircraft came on a chaotic day that also saw mortar shells fired by Indian troops from across the frontier dividing the two sectors of Kashmir kill six civilians and wound several others. A helicopter crash in the region also killed six Indian air force officials and a civilian on the ground.

Pakistan responded by shutting down its civilian airspace.

ONGOING ESCALATIONS

Pakistan has claimed - without substation yet - that another Indian warplane went down in an Indian-controlled section of the Himalayan region, Pakistan’s army spokesman Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor said Pakistani troops on the ground captured the Indian pilot whose plane went down on Pakistan’s side of the border. He had said earlier that two pilots were captured, but did not explain the discrepancy.

“We have no intention of escalation, but are fully prepared to do so if forced into that paradigm,” Ghafoor said.

گرفتار ہونے والے بھارتی ونگ کمانڈر کے پاس سے برآمد ہونے والا سامان#PakistanStrikesBack #Pakistan #PakistanAirForce pic.twitter.com/XMhbS8BZSb — Ameer 'TigerAH' Hamza 🇵🇰 (@TigerAH_pk) February 27, 2019

India’s External Affairs Ministry spokesman, Raveesh Kumar, said one of India’s MiG-21 fighter aircraft was missing and India was still “ascertaining” whether its pilot was in Pakistan’s custody.

He said one Pakistani aircraft also was shot down, something Pakistan denied.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad said the country’s air force was carrying out airstrikes Wednesday from within Pakistani airspace across the disputed Kashmir boundary but that this was not in “retaliation to continued Indian belligerence.” Ghafoor, the Pakistani military spokesman, said the strikes were aimed at “avoiding human loss and collateral damage.”

Shelling earlier Wednesday by India hit the village of Kotli in Pakistani- controlled Kashmir, killing six civilians, including children, local police officialMohammad Altaf said.

HELICOPTER FATALITIES

Meanwhile, Indian police said officials recovered seven bodies from the wreckage of the Indian air force chopper that crashed in an Indian-controlled sector of Kashmir, including six Indian airmen and a civilian on the ground.

They gave no cause for the crash.

Graphic Warning 🔞⚠️#Kashmiris in Indian Occupied #Kashmir pelted stones on Indian Army chopper which arrived at the site of #IndianAirForce Mig-21 Jet crash, after the plane was hit by #PAF today but crashed in #Budgam. pic.twitter.com/s7HB5wfGKD — Pakistan Defence Command (@PDCMDOfficial) February 27, 2019

Scene of the crash site in #Budgam. Major flood of military personnel into the area. pic.twitter.com/u1GIRxPY1R — ᴛʜᴇ ɪɴᴛᴇʟ ᴄʀᴀʙ (@IntelCrab) February 27, 2019

Senior police officer Munir Ahmed Khan said the chopper crashed close to an airport in the Budgam area, on the outskirts ofthe region’s main city of Srinagar. The Srinagar airport, which was shut along with two other airports for civilian flights in the region, is also an air force station.

Witnesses said soldiers fired in the air to keep residents away from the crash site.

TROUBLED BORDER

The violence Wednesday marked the most serious escalation of the long-simmering conflict since 1999, when Pakistan’s military sent a ground force into Indian- controlled Kashmir at Kargil. That year also saw an Indian fighter jet shoot down a Pakistani naval aircraft, killing all 16 on board.

Residents on both sides of the de-facto frontier, the so-called Line of Control, said there were exchanges of fire between the two sides through the night into Wednesday morning. Hundreds of villagers fled border towns in both India and Pakistan.

In New Delhi, Indian officials said Wednesday at least five of their soldiers were wounded in firing by Pakistani troops alongthe volatile frontier.

Lt. Col. Devender Anand, an Indian army spokesman, said Pakistani soldiers targeted dozens of Indian military positions across the Line of Control throughout the night. An Indian military statement said that “out of anger and frustration,” Pakistan initiated an “unprovoked cease-fire violation.” The statement said Indian troops “retaliated for effect” and claimed to have destroyed five Pakistani posts. It accused Pakistani soldiers of firing mortars and missiles “from civilian houses, usingvillagers as human shields.”

On Wednesday, Pakistan’s foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, told state-run Pakistan Television he was in touch with his counterparts across the world about the “Indian aggression,” adding that New Delhi had endangered peace in the region by Tuesday’s airstrike inside Pakistan.

India’s external affairs minister, Sushma Swaraj, said Wednesday her country does not wish to see further escalation of the situation with Pakistan and that it will continue to act with responsibility and restraint.

She said the limited objective of India’s pre-emptive strike inside Pakistan on a terrorist training camp Tuesday was to prevent another terror attack inside India by the Jaish-e-Mohammad extremist group.

The latest wave of tensions between Pakistan and India first erupted after Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for a Feb. 14 suicide bombing on Indian paramilitary forces onthe Indian side of Kashmir that killed more than 40 troops.

India long has accused Pakistan of cultivating such militant groups to attack it. Pakistan has said it was not involved in that attack and was ready to help New Delhi in the investigations.