'Planes were being shot out of the air': Donald Trump now claims to know how many jets were lost during 'Operation Sindoor'

US President Donald Trump has made another sensational comment on the India-Pakistan clashes between May 7 and 10, claiming to know how many fighter planes were downed. POTUS 47 said that he believes five fighter aircraft were brought down in the exchange of fire, although he didn't mention how many jets were lost on either side.

 

Responding to the Pahalgam terrorist attack that killed 26 civilians on April 22, India targeted several terrorist infrastructures in Pak-occupied Kashmir and mainland Pakistan with missiles and targeted air strikes. The mission was named 'Operation Sindoor' by New Delhi, which was condemned by Pakistan and maintained that India hit civilian targets.

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Soon, Pakistan retaliated by firing drones and missiles at both military and civilian establishments in the Indian border states, escalating the conflict. The tit-for-tat response continued until a ceasefire was reached on May 10, following a hotline call between the DGMOs of both countries.

 

During the course of fighting, Pakistan claimed to have taken down India's Rafale jets while India revealed evidence of having struck terrorist installations in the initial phase before targeting Pakistani air bases later.

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Donald Trump mentioned the downing of fighter jets reportedly during a dinner with some Republican lawmakers at the White House. Although he didn't give any further details, Trump did say that these were fighter jets airborne and not those stationed at any of the airbases that were struck as the tensions escalated. "You had India, Pakistan, that was going… in fact, planes were being shot out of the air...four or five. But I think five jets were shot down actually…that was getting worse and worse, wasn't it?... That was looking like it was going to go, these are two serious nuclear countries, and they were hitting each other," he said. Trump was quoted as saying to the MPs.

 

According to Pakistan, five Indian planes involved in the initial strikes were brought down by its pilots during air-to-air combat. India had later said that after assessments of the initial strike that caused some losses, its forces effectively switched tactics and established an advantage before a ceasefire came into force. India also claimed it downed "a few planes" of Pakistan but didn't give an exact number, while Islamabad denied losing any planes but did acknowledge Indian strikes damaging its air bases.

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Since May 10, Trump has repeated his claim several times on various occasions that he “helped settle” the tensions between India and Pakistan and that he told the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours that America will do a “lot of trade” with them if they stopped the conflict.

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