Indo-Pak dogfight ‘longest in history’

Two South Asian nuclear rivals have a long history of dogfight with the latest one waged on Wednesday. The dogfight between Pakistani and Indian fighter jets, which Pakistani officials say downed five Indian planes, was one of the “largest and longest in recent aviation history,” according to a senior Pakistani security official.
A total of 125 fighter jets battled for over an hour, with neither side leaving its own airspace, according to the source who detailed that the missile exchanges were happening at distances sometimes greater than 160 kilometres (100 miles).
Neither side was prepared to send their pilots over the border because of a much smaller dogfight in 2019.
An Indian Air Force pilot was shot down on Pakistani territory and paraded on TV before being returned to India. A humiliation, he said, neither side wanted this time.
At times, the Indian Air Force had to take multiple runs at targets, according to the source. Pakistan did its best to warn civilians in areas it believed to be potential targets, the source said, and that the military was able to minimize civilian casualties.
Despite efforts to avoid civilian harm, Pakistan reported that missile strikes during the confrontation killed at least 31 people, including women and children, in both Pakistan-administered Kashmir and Punjab province.
India’s Defence Ministry stated that its airstrikes were targeted at locations used to plan terrorist attacks against Indian interests.
The Indian Air Force reportedly carried out multiple sorties across the Line of Control and into Pakistani territory, while Pakistani forces responded by issuing evacuation warnings in areas they anticipated would be hit.