By Islamuddin Sajid
ISLAMABAD (AA) - Pakistan shot down five Indian fighter jets, including three French-made Rafale, with Chinese-made J-10Cs aircraft, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar told parliament on Wednesday.
Dar, who is also the deputy prime minister, said the Pakistan Air Force "only targeted those (Indian) aircraft which dropped payloads."
He was addressing lawmakers following India's overnight missile attack on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, which New Delhi said hit "nine terrorist locations."
There was no official reaction from New Delhi to Dar's statement regarding the Indian aircraft by the time of publication.
"Our forces could shoot down 10 to 12 (Indian) fighter jets, but there was a strict order to them (Pakistan Air Force) to hit those fighter jets that fire payload," according to Dar, who added that Pakistan shot down three Rafale jets, a MiG-29, and one SU-30.
Noting several friendly countries have reached out to Islamabad following the latest escalation, the top Pakistani diplomat said: “Chinese Ambassador was at the Foreign Office at 4am (2300GMT), and we communicated everything as a friendly country.”
"The much-hyped Rafale jets failed miserably, and Indian pilots proved to be utterly incompetent,” he said.
Pakistan’s military on Wednesday confirmed that at least 26 people were killed and 46 others injured in Indian missile strikes into its territory and cross-border firing along the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border between the two countries.
The escalation between the nuclear-armed neighbors comes in the wake of the April 22 attack in Pahalgam, Indian-administered Kashmir, in which 26 people were killed.
India blamed Pakistan for the attack, claiming there were cross-border links. Pakistan has denied involvement and offered a neutral probe with third-party monitoring.
Indian officials said New Delhi exercised its “right to respond and preempt as well as deter more such cross-border attacks.”