@body:A Defence Ministry statement here said the IAF MiG-21 combat aircraft intercepted and shot down the Pakistani Atlantique maritime patrol aircraft in the Kori creek in Kutch at 1115 hours.

The intruding Pakistani aircraft was detected by IAF ground radars at 1057 hours and was immediately intercepted by two MiG-21 aircraft, which took off from Naliya airbase in Gujarat, 10 km south of the international border inside the Indian territory, the statement said.

When the IAF fighters closed in to identify and signalled the Pakistani aircraft to land at an Indian base, the intruding jet acted ``in a hostile manner by turning into our fighters''.

``At that stage, the Atlantique was shot down by an air-to-air missile which hit it on the port engine which caught fire,'' the statement said.

The wreckage of the Pakistani plane was found by IAF helicopters two km on the Indian side of the international border.

The Indian navy has been put in a ``state of enhanced vigilance'' and is keeping a watch on possible Pakistani reaction following the shooting down of the plane, highly-placed navy sources said.

The Army was put in a ``state of alert'' in the entire Western sector following the shooting down of the intruding aircraft, Defence Minister George Fernandes said.

The Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) ofIndia and Pakistan spoke to each other on the hotline after the downing of the Pakistani aircraft.

Pakistani Information Minister Mushahid Hussain told BBC Television that his country reserved the right to ``take appropriate measures'' and described the Indian action as unprovoked aggression.

An AFP report from Karachi quoting an unnamed Pakistani navy official said all the 16 personnel -- six under-training officers and ten sailors -- on board the plane were presumed dead.

Hussain denied that the Pakistan plane had intruded into the Indian airspace and said the Indian action was a ``violation of Pakistani airspace.''

Pakistan claimed the wreckage of Atlantique was found two miles inside the international border on its side near Badin, about 300 km northeast of Karachi, the AFP report said.

``This was certainly an unprovoked action...The plane was shot down by the Indians inside Pakistani territory and the wreckage was also well inside Pakistani territory,'' he said.