Tensions between India and Pakistan have ramped up following a militant gun attack in the disputed area of Kashmir.
At least 26 people, most of whom were Indian tourists, were shot dead by gunmen at a beauty spot near the resort town of Pahalgam in the Indian-controlled part of the region on 22 April.
India described the massacre as a “terror attack” and said it had “cross border” links, blaming Pakistan for backing it.
Pakistan denied any connection to the atrocity, which was claimed by a previously unknown militant group called the Kashmir Resistance.
It was one of the worst attacks in recent times in Kashmir, which is split between the two countries, and, as Pakistan’s defence minister told Sky’s The World With Yalda Hakim, has the potential to lead to a full-scale conflict involving the nuclear-armed neighbours.
Here is everything you need to know.
What happened during the attack?
At least four gunmen fired at dozens of tourists who were enjoying their holidays in Baisaran meadow, which is three miles (5km) from Pahalgam, and known as ‘mini Switzerland’.
At least 26 people were killed, and three dozen others were injured, according to police officers.
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Sky News’ India correspondent Neville Lazarus said on 23 April that security forces had been called to the area and an anti-terror operation was ongoing.
It is believed police and soldiers were continuing to search for the attackers.
Funerals for several of those killed have been held in some Indian cities, and people took part in candle-lit vigils at several places, including in Srinagar, the biggest city in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, in the disputed region.
Locals shut down markets, businesses and schools the day after the attack in protest, amid worries that it would hurt the region’s tourism economy.
What is the Kashmir Resistance?
The Kashmir Resistance, also known as The Resistance Front, has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The group, which emerged in 2019 is considered a splinter group of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, a Delhi-based think-tank.
LeT is listed as a terrorist organisation by the US. The same group was accused of killing 166 people during a four-day attack on Mumbai in 2008.
At the time, the group was alleged to have close ties to Pakistan’s spy agency, the Inter-Service Intelligence – an accusation Islamabad denied.
Ajai Sahni, head of the South Asia Terrorism Portal, told Reuters that groups like these have been created by Pakistan particularly as a way to create a “pattern of denial that they were involved in terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir”.
Pakistan has always denied that it supports and funds militants in Kashmir, saying it offers only moral and diplomatic support.
How have India and Pakistan reacted?
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who cut short his visit to Saudi Arabia and returned to India, “strongly” condemned the attack.
Addressing a rally in the east Indian state of Bihar on 24 April, he said his government will “identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backers”.
“We will pursue them to the ends of the earth,” he said, adding: “Terrorism will not go unpunished. Every effort will be made to ensure that justice is done.”
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India also announced a number of punitive measures against Pakistan, including revoking visas issued to Pakistan nationals, expelling military advisers, closing a border crossing and suspending a crucial water-sharing treaty known as the Indus Water Treaty.
During a phone call with Mr Modi, the UK’s prime minister Sir Keir Starmer “expressed his deep condolences” to all those affected and agreed to stay in touch with the Indian leader.
India has accused Pakistan of harbouring and arming militant organisations whose members infiltrate the almost 500-mile border in Kashmir and attack the state.
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Speaking to Sky News’ Yalda Hakim, Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Asif denied his country was behind the Pahalgam attack.
In a meeting of the country’s national security committee, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif passed reciprocal measures on India including cancelling visas, closing its airspace for all Indian-owned or Indian-operated airlines and suspending all trade with India, including to and from any third country.
He also warned that the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty would be considered an act of war.
The treaty, which was brokered by the World Bank in 1960, is essential for supporting agriculture and hydropower for Pakistan’s 240 million people. Suspending it could lead to water shortages at a time when parts of the country are already struggling with drought and declining rainfall.
‘Brief exchange of fire’
Days after the attack, three Indian army officials said that its army had a brief exchange of fire with Pakistani soldiers along the highly militarised border of Kashmir.
The officials claimed Pakistan soldiers used small arms to fire at Indian positions in Kashmir late on 24 April, to which Indian soldiers retaliated. No casualties were reported.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry declined to confirm or deny the report.
Ministry spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan told a news conference: “I will wait for a formal confirmation from the military before I make any comment.”
The exchange of fire followed Pakistan’s defence minister Mr Asif warning that the attack could lead to an “all-out war” between his country and India and that the world should be “worried”.
Mr Asif suggested India had “staged” the shooting in a “false flag” operation. He warned his military was “prepared for any eventuality” amid escalating tensions and diplomatic measures from both sides.
“We will measure our response to whatever is initiated by India. It would be a measured response,” he said.
“If there is an all-out attack or something like that, then obviously there will be an all-out war… If things get wrong, there could be a tragic outcome of this confrontation.”
The United Nations has urged both sides “to exercise maximum restraint and to ensure that the situation and the developments we’ve seen do not deteriorate any further”.
What caused the two country’s tensions?
India and Pakistan have fought several wars and conflicts since their independence from Britain in 1947, primarily due to territorial disputes over Kashmir.
Both countries claim the Himalayan region as their own, but in reality control different sections of the territory.
Armed insurgents in Kashmir have resisted New Delhi for decades, with many Muslim people in the region supporting the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory either under Pakistan’s rule or as an independent country.
The dispute over the land has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people over the past three decades, although outbreaks of sporadic violence did seem to have eased in recent years.
In 2019, a suicide bomber in a vehicle killed 40 paramilitary soldiers in a military convoy, which brought the two countries close to war.
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Before that, there was the Mumbai terror attack in 2008 and in 1999, the 10-week-long Kargil War.
The conflict began after Pakistan’s military covertly occupied Indian posts across the line of control (LoC) in the Kargil region.
At least 1,000 combatants were killed on both sides. The fighting stopped after Pakistan asked then US president Bill Clinton to help de-escalate the conflict.
