The Indian Air Force on Friday refuted the claims by a US media report that stated Pakistan did not lose any F-16 jet in the aerial combat on February 27.
The IAF asserted that it had shot down an F-16 aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force on February 27 during aerial combat.
"During the aerial engagement, one MiG 21 Bison of the IAF shot down an F-16 in Nowshera sector," the IAF said in a statement.
"The Indian forces have confirmed sighting ejections at two different places on that day. The two sightings were at places separated by at least 8-10 km. One was an IAF MiG 21 Bison and other a PAF aircraft. Electronic signatures gathered by us indicate that the PAF aircraft was a F-16," the statement said.
The assertion came after the Foreign Policy magazine reported on Thursday that the US count of the F-16s with Pakistan has found that none of them are missing, contradicting India's claim that one of its fighter jets shot down a Pakistani F-16 during an aerial dogfight on February 27.
As the report contradicted IAF claims, Pakistan military spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor said it was time India came clean on "false claims", including the second aircraft shot down by Pakistan.
"Truth always prevails. Time for India to speak truth about false claims and actual losses on their side including the second aircraft shot down by Pakistan," Ghafoor said.
The Balakot strike triggered a dogfight between the two air forces which resulted in the loss of a fighter jet from each side and a brief detention of IAF Wing Commander Abhinadan Varthaman by Pakistan Army. The IAF claimed that Varthaman had shot down an F-16 jet of Pakistan before ejecting from his crashing MiG-21 Bison jet.
The report in the journal comes days before the voting starts for the Lok Sabha polls. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top BJP leaders have been accused by the opposition of using the Balakot air strike, which was in response to the February 14 Pulwama terror attack, in their campaign speeches.
