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Pakistan and India said Wednesday they had shot down each other's warplanes, in a dramatic escalation of the dangerous confrontation between the nuclear-armed rivals.
Pakistan said it downed two Indian jets in its airspace and captured two pilots, but insisted it does not 'want to go towards war' with its neighbour.
India confirmed the loss of one of its planes and said it had shot down a Pakistani fighter jet, in a conflict played out over the skies of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
In a sign of the deepening crisis, Pakistan closed its airspace 'until further notice'. At least six airports were shuttered in India, and a vast area of airspace north of New Delhi was closed to civilian flights.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan has since opened up for talks with Indian leaders over the latest Kashmir clashes, saying: 'If escalation begins from here, where will it go?'