NEW DELHI: The loss of an Indian Air Force fighter (IAF) jet during Operation Sindoor has been acknowledged by the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Anil Chauhan, India’s most senior military officer.The CDS declined to specify the losses in terms of numbers but clearly pointed to the fact that the Indian military carried out high-precision strikes deep inside Pakistani territory that, New Delhi said, forced Islamabad to plead to stop the hostilities.When asked whether Pakistan had downed an Indian jet or more during the course of Operation Sindoor, Gen. Chauhan told Bloomberg TV on Saturday, on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, “What is important is that, not the jet being down, but why they were being down, what mistakes were made, that are important.”Gen. Chauhan added, “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 flew all our jets again, targeting at long range.”While he stated, “Numbers are not important,” the CDS outrightly denied Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s claims that the Pakistan Air Force had shot down six Indian fighter jets, including four Rafale fighters, during the brief India-Pakistan clash.The CDS’s remarks mark the Indian military’s first clear acknowledgment of losses during the four-day clashes with the neighbouring country.However, on May 11, DG of Air Operations Air Marshal AK Bharti, responding to the same question, stated that “losses are a part of combat,” while emphasising that all IAF pilots returned home safely.Operation Sindoor was a joint mission conducted by the IAF and the Indian Army to wipe out terrorist infrastructures inside Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
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