Long-running tensions between nuclear-armed rivals Pakistan and India soared Wednesday after New Delhi launched deadly strikes at Pakistani territory.
The missiles killed at least 26 people, according to Pakistan, which said it had begun retaliating in a major escalation between the South Asian neighbours.
India accuses Pakistan of backing the deadliest attack in years on civilians in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) on April 22, in which 26 people were killed.
Islamabad has rejected the charge. Both countries have since exchanged gunfire along the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border that separates Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) from IIOJK, a heavily fortified zone of disputed Himalayan outposts.
Meanwhile, India has expelled citizens and ordered the border shut.
The two sides have fought multiple conflicts — ranging from skirmishes to all-out war — since their bloody partition in 1947.
1947: Partition
Two centuries of British rule ended on August 15, 1947, with the sub-continent divided into mainly Muslim-majority Pakistan and Hindu India.
The poorly prepared Partition unleashes bloodshed that kills possibly more than a million people and displaces 15 million others.
As the princely state of Kashmir hesitates between joining India or Pakistan, tensions rise. A UN-backed, 770-kilometre (480-mile) ceasefire line in January 1949 divides Kashmir.
1965: Kashmir
Pakistan launches a second war in August 1965 when it tries to reclaim IIOJK. Thousands are killed before a September ceasefire brokered by the Soviet Union and the United States.
1971: Bangladesh
Pakistan deploys troops in 1971 to suppress an independence movement in what is now Bangladesh, which it had governed since 1947 as East Pakistan.
An estimated three million people are killed in the nine-month conflict and millions flee into India.
India invades, leading to the creation of the independent nation of Bangladesh.
1989-90: Kashmir
An uprising breaks out in IIOJK in 1989 as grievances at the disputed territory boil over. Tens of thousands of soldiers, freedom fighters and civilians are killed in the following decades.
India accuses Pakistan of funding the fighters and aiding their weapons training.
1999: Kargil
Pakistan seizes Indian military posts in the icy heights of the Kargil mountains.
Pakistan yields after severe pressure from Washington, alarmed by intelligence reports showing Islamabad had deployed part of its nuclear arsenal nearer to the conflict. At least 1,000 people are killed over 10 weeks.
2019: Kashmir
A suicide attack on a convoy of Indian security forces kills 40 in Pulwama.
India, which is busy with campaigning for general elections, sends fighter jets which carry out air strikes on Pakistani territory.
One Indian jet is shot down over AJK, with the pilot, Indian Air Force (IAF) Wing Commander Abhinandan, captured. He was captured by Pakistan after his MiG 21 Bison aircraft was shot down by a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) jet. He was handed over in a gesture of peace to India at the Wagah border.
