Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar revealed in the National Assembly on Wednesday that 40 to 50 Indian soldiers were killed along the Line of Control (LoC) in a forceful retaliation by Pakistan’s military following Indian cross-border aggression.
Delivering a policy statement amid heightened tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, Tarar said the Pakistan Armed Forces had not only inflicted heavy casualties on Indian troops but had also targeted key military installations, including the destruction of an Indian brigade headquarters near the LoC.
He added that India is still retrieving the bodies of its fallen soldiers from the conflict zone. “Our response was swift, calculated, and devastating,” the minister stated.
Highlighting India’s reliance on advanced Western weaponry, Tarar remarked, “India took great pride in its Rafale fighter jets, believing them to be unbeatable due to their state-of-the-art technology. But those jets were shot down in our airspace, bringing them nothing but humiliation and embarrassment.”
As previously confirmed by Pakistan’s military, five Indian fighter jets — including three Rafales — were downed in recent aerial engagements, which Pakistani officials have described as a defensive response to unprovoked Indian strikes.
Touching upon the drone warfare dimension, Tarar said, “We have successfully neutralized Israeli-made Indian drones that attempted to breach our airspace. Some were destroyed beyond the range of our air defense systems.”
Earlier in the day, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) disclosed that Pakistan had shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones, employing both soft kill (electronic jamming) and hard kill (direct fire) methods. These drones, manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries and operated by India, are designed for kamikaze-style precision strikes.
