Indian Air Force jets scrambled again on Wednesday to push back Pakistani fighter planes over airspace on Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch, according to reports. This was the second failed attempt by Pakistan to violate Indian air space in the last 72 hours. Earlier on Sunday, India had scrambled its fighter jets after four Pakistani jets were detected flying aggressively close to the international border in Punjab.

As soon as radars captured the Pakistani F-16 jets flying near the border, Indian Air Force scrambled Sukhoi-30 and Mirage-2000 fighter jets. The Pakistani jets were reportedly flying with a surveillance drone to detect Indian troops deployment.

After the February 26 air strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed camps in Pakistan’s Balakot, the armies of India and Pakistan – two nuclear-armed neighbours – came on the brink of war. The strike, which was carried out by Indian Air Force’s Mirage-2000 jets, was part of India’s anti-terror operation after the February 14 Pulwama attack in which over 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

In response to India’s action, Pakistan also scrambled its fighter jets and targeted Indian military installations in Kashmir. However, the attempt was foiled by IAF which shot down one of their F-16 jets.

In the fierce battle between the IAF and PAF, one of the Indian jets was also drowned and the pilot, who ejected after the plane took a hit, was captured by Pakistan. Two days later, Pakistan released the pilot – Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman. The release cooled down the tensions between the countries but Indian armed forces were asked to remain on alert.