Pakistan's navy says it spotted, warned Indian submarine

Indian paramilitary soldiers stand guard outside a closed market during a strike in protest against the ban on Jama'at-e-Islami, in Srinagar, India, Tuesday, March 5, 2019. India has banned Jama'at-e-Islami, a political-religious group in Kashmir, in a sweeping and ongoing crackdown against activists seeking the end of Indian rule in the disputed region amid the most serious confrontation between India and Pakistan in two decades. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Pakistani protesters beat an effigy of Indian prime minister during a rally in Karachi, Pakistan, Monday, March 4, 2019. A key train service with neighboring India resumed and schools in Pakistani Kashmir opened Monday in another sign of easing tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals since a major escalation last week over the disputed Kashmir region. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan's navy says it spotted and warned an Indian submarine approaching its territorial waters in the Arabian Sea not to attempt an incursion.

The navy said in a statement Tuesday that the Indian submarine wasn't targeted, "keeping in view Pakistan's policy of peace" under which Islamabad wants to de-escalate tensions with New Delhi.

A navy official says the warning was "communicated" to the submarine during Monday's encounter. The submarine then moved away. He didn't elaborate and spoke on condition of anonymity to talk to reporters.

Tension escalated after India last week launched an airstrike inside Pakistan, claiming it targeted militants behind a Feb. 14 bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 Indian troops.

Pakistan retaliated by downing two Indian fighter jets and capturing a pilot who was later handed back.