India Denies Jet Attack

Pakistan fired on an Indian plane that strayed into its airspace over the weekend but did not shoot it down, Karachi said today. India denied any such incident.

Major General Rashid Quereshi would not specify locations but said the plane returned to Indian airspace after the incident yesterday.

But Maj Gen Quereshi said the plane included an unidentified senior officer and had been monitoring parts of the disputed Kashmir region.

In New Delhi, Indian defence ministry spokesman PK Bandopadhyay said "no such incident has taken place".

Maj Gen Quereshi dismissed the comment, saying the incident "was embarrassing for the Indian government".

Relations between the two nuclear powers worsened after the December 13 attack on the Indian parliament, which India blames on Pakistani-backed Islamic extremists.

The two countries have massed hundreds of thousands of troops along their border. India refuses to withdraw its forces until it is convinced that Pakistan has stopped what the Indians call "cross-border terrorism" in the disputed Kashmir.