27 February 2019•Update: 27 February 2019
By Zahid Rafiq and Riyaz ul Khaliq
SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir/ANKARA,Turkey
A day after India carried out airstrikes in Pakistan, an Indian military chopper crashed in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Wednesday morning, killing all six people on board as well as one civilian on the ground, according to Indian news reports.
Pakistan has denied any responsibility of the crash in Budgam, NDTV news channel reported.
Senior Indian defense officials identified the aircraft as an MI-17 chopper.
The killed civilian has been identified as Kifayat Hussain Ganaie, a local resident, while the identity of the six Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel is still being ascertained.
Pakistan shoots down two Indian fighter jets
Reporting that earlier they had downed two other Indian military jets near Kashmir’s Line of Control (LoC) de facto border, Pakistani officials said they had nothing to do with the crash in Budgam, deep inside Indian-controlled Kashmir.
"There are reports of another Indian jet crashing a bit deep inside [Indian-administered Kashmir], but we did not engage with it," Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor told a press conference in Islamabad.
Pakistani forces had brought down two other IAF fighter jets which violated the LoC and entered Pakistani airspace, Ghafoor said.
Ghafoor said while one of the jets fell on the Pakistani side of the LoC, the other fell on the Indian side, adding that one of the pilots had been arrested with another being hospitalized after having been injured.
Earlier today India closed major airports in Jammu and Kashmir as well as Leh -- all part of the disputed Kashmir region -- and Dehradun to civilian flights.
The action comes amid heightened tension between the nuclear-armed neighbors, triggered earlier this month over a terrorist attack in Kashmir that killed 44 Indian soldiers.
Indian jets were heard flying over Kashmir all through the night, with sources saying that lights at all major army installations had been switched off, fearing retaliatory airstrikes by Pakistan.
