New Delhi (Sputnik): India’s air defence missile of Israeli-origin may haveshot down its own Mi-17 V5 military chopper, following an alert on 27February about 25 Pakistani fighter jets hovering over the border area thatseparates the two countries, reportslinktheIndian daily *The Economic Times.*[image:link]
The incident had occurred a day after the Indian Air Force (IAF) avengedthe 14 February Pulwama militant attack by a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)militant along the Jammu —Kashmir Highway on a CRPF troop convoy in whichover 40 personnel were killed and many others left wounded.
The Mi-17 V5 helicopter lifted off from Srinagar airfield at 10:00 a.m.local time for a routine mission. The helicopter crashed around 10:10 a.m.near Jammu and Kashmir’s Budgam district. All six Indian Air force (IAF)personnel on board were killed in the crash, a leading Indian daily reportedlinkon Fridayciting the initial report.[image: Pakistani Air Force F-16 fighter jet]The investigation’s focus is to determine “if multiple layers of safeguardsmeant to protect assets from friendly fire failed and how systems needto be improved to prevent any such incident in future”, it reported.
The Indian authorities maintain that the IAF strike was carried out againstsuspected terror infrastructure operated by JeM, the Pakistan-basedterrorist organisation that claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack.
A day after the Indian site launched the air strike in Balakot (inPakistan), the two nuclear armed nations engaged in an air clash, a firstin five decades. According to reports,linkatleast 25 fighter jets from the Pakistan Air Force tried to breach theborder for a strike on military targets.
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A slow moving target like the Mi-17 V5 helicopter could be mistaken for alow flying armed UAV homing into an air base, said the media report citingsources.
The IAF has stated it wouldn’t hesitate from initiating Court Martialproceedings against personnel found guilty in the inquiry.
