IAF chopper confession, finally
The Indian Air Force has formally admitted for the first time that it shot down its own Mi-17 helicopter and killed seven Indians in the post-Balakot dogfight on February 27.
“Our missile hit the helicopter and this has been established…. It was a big mistake on our part. We admit it,” Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria said on Friday at his first media conference as the air chief.
Six air force personnel and a civilian on the ground had died in the crash at Budgam in Kashmir.
The official disclosure came 219 days after the incident. The interlude was marked by a wave of triumphalism and the general election that was swept by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
