Pakistan media airs fake footage of IAF aircraft being shot down; trolled online

NEW DELHI: After falsely claiming to strike down Indian aircraft, Pakistani media aired fake footage of IAF jets being shot down.

Several TV channels ran old crash footage of a MiG and a Hawk aircraft going down as exclusive content. The IAF Hawk jet had gone down near Subarnarekha River at Odisha-Jharkhand border in March 2018 while the MiG-27 fighter aircraft had crashed in a residential area in Rajasthan's Jodhpur in 2016. Another channel aired a video clip of an IAF pilot who survived the twin crash of the Suryakiran aerobatics display team in Bengaluru on February 19.

Several people took to social media to report about it.

The fake footage went viral after the Pakistan government claimed to strike down two IAF jets and arrest one pilot earlier in the day. 

Soon after, India rejected these claims and said that no aircraft of the Indian Air Force was shot down.

"No reports of any IAF jet suffering damage in action by India's adversaries," said defence sources as reported by PTI.

Three Pakistan Air Force aircraft violated and crossed into the Indian air space in a retaliatory fire at the Line of Control (LoC). IAF shot down a Pakistan Air Force's F-16 jet in the Lam valley of Jammu and Kashmir's Nowshera sector. A parachute was seen dropping from the F-16 aircraft which was going down. The condition of the pilot is unknown, reported news agency ANI.

The aircraft reportedly entered up to two kilometres inside the Indian territory but fled after they were intercepted by the IAF fighters.

The Pakistani jets also dropped bombs while fleeing but there is no report of any casualty or damage to property, officials told news agency PTI. 

Just a day earlier on Tuesday, the IAF had carried out multiple aerial strikes targeting terror launch pads in Pakistan, completely destroying them, including control rooms of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror group.

The terror camps in Balakot, Chakothi and Muzaffarabad were struck by 12 Mirage 2000 jets with 1000 kg of explosives at around 3:30 am. India's response came 12 days after a CRPF convoy was attacked by a suicide bomber in Jammu and Kashmir`s Pulwama, in which 40 security personnel were killed. 

Hours after the IAF airstrikes, a high alert was sounded at several places across the country.

The IAF had put all air defence systems along the International Border and Line of Control (LoC) on alert to respond to any possible strike back by Pakistan Air Force. Sources said that the IAF bases along the borders have been fully geared up to deal with any eventuality. Air defence systems including airborne radars have been activated to deal with any intruders along the International Border and the LoC.