First time any head of a third state confirmed shooting down of planes during May conflict
President Donald Trump said at least five planes were shot down during the latest hostilities between India and Pakistan in May, insisting it was the US which “stopped the war” between the two nuclear-armed nations.
“Planes were being shot out of the air … I think five jets were shot down, actually,” Trump told a dinner meeting with Republican lawmakers at the White House Friday night.
Trump did not specify whose planes were shot down.
It is the first time that any head of a third state has confirmed shooting down of planes in the four-day conflict.
Pakistan claims it downed six Indian planes, including three French-made Rafales, in air-to-air combat when India launched overnight cross-border airstrikes on May 7.
Gen. Anil Chauhan, India's chief of defense staff, later confirmed that some Indian air planes were shot down without specifying the numbers. "What is important (for India) is not the jet being down, but why they were down," Chauhan had said.
Trump said the hostilities were “getting bigger and bigger,” which were “solved through trade.”
“We said, you guys want to make a trade deal. We're not making a trade deal if you're going to be throwing around weapons, and maybe nuclear weapons, both very powerful nuclear states,” he said.
"We stopped a lot of wars. And these were serious,” added the US president, who has claimed more than a dozen times that Washington brokered a ceasefire between the two South Asian neighbors. India, however, says there was no US mediation.
The fighting was triggered by the April 22 attack at Pahalgam tourist resort in Indian-administered Kashmir.
New Delhi blamed the attack on Islamabad, which denied responsibility and called for a neutral investigation.
After an exchange of attacks between the two countries, Trump announced the truce on May 10.
