MORE than 100 Indian and Pakistani fighter jets reportedly clashed in a ferocious dogfight, marking one of the biggest aerial battles since World War Two.
Thehour-long showdown in the skies on Wednesday saw advanced and Western weapons go head-to-head for the first time.
The high-stakes engagement reportedly involved a staggering 125 warplanes as both sides hurled long-range missiles at each other from within their own airspace, according to CNN.
officials claimed five Indian jets were shot down using Chinese-made PL-15 missiles — though has yet to confirm any losses.
Salman Ali Bettani, an international relations scholar at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad, told CNN: “(It) is now being characterized as the most intense air-to-air combat engagement between two nuclear-armed nations.
“The engagement represented a milestone in the operational use of advanced Chinese-origin systems.”;
If verified, the would eclipse any air combat seen in decades and lay bare the raw military might of the nuclear-armed neighbours— both now armed with some of the most advanced aircraft in the world.
reportedly deployed its Chinese-built J-10C jets, boasting that they had downed Indian Rafale fighters, while Indian pilots made repeated passes at targets.
Neither side crossed the border, apparently wary of triggering a repeat of the 2019 incident where an Indian pilot was captured and paraded on Pakistani TV.
But the fight is only part of a spiralling conflict between the two nations following a massacre in the Indian resort town of Pahalgam, where 26 civilians were gunned down last month.
blames Pakistan for the attack — a charge Islamabad denies.
In response, , blitzing nine targets across Pakistan and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir.
Among them was the headquarters of terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), where — a top JeM commander and the man linked to the beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002.
“India has killed the brutal terrorist assassin Abdul Rauf Azhar, whose psychopathic beheading of Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002 we all remember,”; said former US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad.
“Justice has been served.”;
Pakistan has yet to confirm his death.
Meanwhile, accused Pakistan of using civilian planes as “shields”; during its air assault.
Wing Commander Vyomika Singh said: “Pakistan launched an unprovoked aerial assault, targeting Indian territory with and missiles.
“But Pakistan did not close its civilian airspace, so that commercial flights would become shields against any counterstrike.”;
Indian officials also say they “repulsed”; a wave of Pakistani drone attacks overnight, and blasts were reported in Jammu as air raid sirens blared in several cities.
Pakistan’s army in response.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has vowed revenge, saying: “I promise that we will take revenge for every drop of blood of these victims.”;
The Pakistani Defence Minister also issued a chilling nuclear warning:
“If they aggravate this then if a chance of war arises in which there is a sign of nuclear option being used on both sides, then the responsibility for that will be on India.”;
India struck back diplomatically,
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said: “I don’t need to remind the audience where bin Laden was found.”;
The aerial battle has sparked alarm across the globe.
US President said he is prepared to do “anything to help,”; while UK Prime Minister Sir urged “urgent dialogue”; to avoid catastrophe.
“This isn’t just a bilateral clash anymore; it’s a glimpse of how Chinese defense exports are reshaping regional deterrence,”; said Craig Singleton of the US-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Chinese defence stocks have surged since the battle, with shares in AVIC Chengdu Aircraft—maker of the J-10C—up 40% this week.
, which supplies the bulk of Pakistan’s weapons, has so far stayed quiet, saying only that it is “not familiar with the situation.”;
Colonel Philip Ingram, a former commander, previously told The Sun: “Western intelligence in particular will be focused on the readiness and the outloading of nuclear stocks inside both Pakistan and India and monitoring what’s happening to them very closely indeed.”;
The dogfight is now being compared to the most historic air battles in military — drawing parallels with the Battle of Britain, the Battle of Kursk, and the 1973 Battle of El Mansoura.
But with both sides boasting nuclear stockpiles — estimated at around 170 warheads each — the stakes today are infinitely higher.
The International Campaign to Abolish said it is “gravely concerned”; by the escalation.
Experts warn that if nuclear war erupts, it could kill as many as 125 million people.
