The entire airspace north of the Indian capital has been vacated, official sources said on Wednesday.

The skies above New Delhi were vacated as nine airports in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab were closed for civilian air traffic on a day of rapidly escalating tensions between India and Pakistan.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval was holding a high level meeting to assess the security situation in the wake of the developments of the morning, including Pakistan claiming that it had shot down two Indian military jets and arrested two pilots.

India said Pakistan jets intruded into Indian air space in the Rajouri and Poonch sectors.

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