India military confirms loss of fighter jets in recent conflict with Pakistan

The Indian military confirmed for the first time on Saturday the loss of fighter jets in recent clashes with Pakistan.

Anil Chauhan, the chief of the Indian Defence Staff, told Bloomberg TV that "what is important (for India) is not the jet being down, but why they were down."

"… why they went down, that is more important for us, and what did we do after that. That's more important," Chauhan told Bloomberg TV on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

Pakistan claims it shot down at least six fighter jets, including four French-made Rafales, one Su-30MKI, and one Russian MiG-29, during India's overnight cross-border airstrikes on May 6 and 7.

Chauhan, however, refused to provide any additional information, claiming that Pakistan's number of jets was "absolutely incorrect."

"Why they were down, what mistakes were made — that are important," he said, adding: "Numbers are not important."

However, he said: "The good part is that we are able to understand the tactical mistake, which we made, remedy it, rectify it, and then implement it again after two days and fly all our jets again, targeting at long range."

Pakistan launched retaliatory strikes inside India and Indian-administered Kashmir after New Delhi targeted air bases inside Pakistan on the night of May 10.

India and Pakistan saw one of the worst hostilities early this month, sparked by an April 22 attack in Indian-administered Kashmir, where unidentified gunmen killed 26 people, mostly Indian tourists, at the Pahalgam tourist site.

New Delhi said the attack had "cross-border links," but Islamabad denied it and offered a neutral probe.

The incident led to an exchange of blame and denials, eventually escalating to retaliatory airstrikes and drone attacks. Tensions eased somewhat after US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire on May 10, which remains in effect.