MUMBAI, India _ India and Pakistan are locked in another escalating confrontation over Kashmir, the Himalayan territory they have fought over for seven decades.
The countries have fought two wars over Kashmir, but the prospect of new hostilities is particularly worrisome because both now have nuclear weapons. Here's a look at the conflict and what could happen next:
Q: What triggered the current crisis?
A: Tensions reached their highest point in years after four anti-India militants raided an army base inside India-controlled Kashmir Sept. 18, killing 19 soldiers. India said the attackers came from Pakistan, which denied involvement.
India responded to the attack nine days later by sending commandos to strike militant outposts a short distance inside Pakistani-administered Kashmir. Although the countries regularly trade fire across the border in contravention of a decades-old cease-fire, this was the first time India publicly acknowledged such an attack.
India has accused Pakistan of violating the cease-fire more than two dozen times. Thursday, the Indian army said it killed three militants who fired on another military camp and four others attempting to cross into Indian-controlled Kashmir.
Q: How did the Kashmir dispute begin?
A: When Britain gave up control of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, splitting it into a predominantly Hindu India and a predominantly Muslim Pakistan, the northern state of Kashmir at first decided to remain independent.
Pakistan claimed Kashmir because most of its residents are Muslim. Shortly after independence, Pakistani raiders entered Kashmir, prompting the state's ruler to agree to join India if it sent troops to help him.
The ensuing war ended with Kashmir being divided into Indian- and Pakistani-controlled portions along a 435-mile cease-fire line. The countries went back to war in 1965 but fought to a stalemate.
A 1972 agreement designated the cease-fire line as the Line of Control, which remains in effect.
India controls eastern Kashmir and the southern Kashmir Valley, slightly more land than Pakistan, which holds the north and west. China also claims a chunk of northeast Kashmir, a high-altitude desert that is part of a long-running territorial dispute with India.
Q: How many have died in the conflict?
A: Separatist groups that oppose Indian rule in Kashmir _ including some that desire independence _ have long battled the half-million Indian troops stationed there. India estimates that more than 47,000 civilians and police have been killed in the territory since 1989, although human rights groups say the toll is much higher.
Since June, after Indian paramilitaries gunned down a 21-year-old militant, the Kashmir Valley has had its worst violence in six years.
More than 80 civilians have been killed in clashes with police, who have been accused of using excessive force. India blames Pakistan for stoking the violence, although Pakistan denies it.
Q: Is the conflict likely to escalate?
A: Experts say it's unlikely. While the loudest voices in India demand revenge against Pakistan, analysts say neither country gains if things get worse.
India is the world's fastest-growing major economy, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to focus on development, not defense. Several crucial state elections over the next year will hinge on how voters rate his Bharatiya Janata Party's handling of the economy.
Pakistan lacks India's conventional military capability. Its prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, is weak, and its powerful army chief is considering retirement _ an unsteady time for Pakistan to step into a major conflict with its more powerful neighbor.
Pakistan denied that Indian commandos carried out "surgical strikes" after the Sept. 18 attack, characterizing the incidents as routine cross-border shelling. Modi and other senior officials have not provided details that would confirm the operation.
Q: How are other countries responding?
A: The United States, which forged an alliance with Pakistan to fight terrorism, has recently grown closer to India.
Modi and President Barack Obama have met several times and the bilateral trade and defense relationship is growing fast. Meanwhile, U.S. relations with Pakistan are souring, as shown by the Pentagon's decision to withhold $300 million in military funding because Islamabad failed to demonstrate it had taken action against terrorist groups attacking U.S. interests in Afghanistan.
The White House recently called on Pakistan to do more to rein in militant groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammad, which India blames for several attacks, including the raid on the army base.
Pakistan is increasingly isolated. It had to postpone a South Asian summit scheduled for November in Islamabad after India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Bhutan all withdrew in protest of the army base attack.
Its most powerful friend, China, has said it "attaches importance to Pakistan's standpoint" on Kashmir. But Beijing reportedly has signaled to Islamabad that it must take a tougher line against militants.
