Pakistan claims to have shot down two Indian jets over Kashmir border

Pakistani officials claimed the country's armed forces had shot down two Indian jets on Wednesday over its own territory, capturing at least one of the pilots.

The day before, Indian warplanes had conducted a strike inside Pakistan's side of the disputed area of Kashmir against a training camp for terrorists, New Delhi's first such action since the 1970s.

India's actions were triggered by an attack on its side of the Line-of-Control in the disputed region of Kashmir by fighters belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammed group on 14 February which left 40 of its soldiers dead.

To take note of, India was due to hold general elections in April-May 2019.

According to a spokesman from New Delhi's ministry of external affairs, only one of its jets, a Mig-21 had been lost and its pilot was missing in action.

The spokesman also said that India had shot down one Pakistani jet, a claim that was reportedly rebutted by Islamabad.

Pakistan’s information ministry had originally claimed that two Indian pilots were captured, publishing a video - later taken down - showing one of the Indian pilots who appeared to have blood on his face.

Control of the region of Kashmir has led to two wars between India and Pakistan since they were partition in 1947.

India's foreign minister Sushma Swaraj said that her country will act "with responsibility and restraint".

“No military installations were targeted,” Swaraj said. “The limited objective of the pre-emptive strike was to act decisively against the terrorist infrastructure of the JeM in order to pre-empt another terrorist attack in India.”

"India does not wish to see further escalation of the situation," she said, speaking from a meeting with Russian and Chinese foreign ministers in China.