Kashmir is one of the world’s most dangerous flashpoints and is controlled in part by India and Pakistan but both countries claim it in its entirety.

Since gaining independence from Britain almost 80 years ago, the two nuclear-armed adversaries have engaged in three wars over the mountainous region currently separated by an unofficial boundary known as the Line of Control (LOC).

Tensions have been ratcheted up again after gunmen massacred 26 tourists in Pahalgam in Indian-controlled Kashmir last month, the deadliest assault on Indian civilians in recent years.

Today’s strikes are the most significant military action since 2019, when Indian jets conducted airstrikes on several targets inside Pakistan, after it blamed Islamabad for a suicide car bomb attack that killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary personnel in the region.

India has long accused Pakistan of harboring militant groups that conduct attacks across the border, a charge Islamabad denies, and had vowed to retaliate against those they deemed responsible.