India and Pakistan seem headed for a military conflict in the wake of India’s worst terrorist attack in years. The question is what form that clash will take and just how far the confrontation between the two nuclear-armed neighbors could escalate.

The latest crisis in the long-running tensions between the two nations began on April 22, when gunmen killed 26 people in Pahalgam, a popular tourist resort in the Indian-administered region of Kashmir. Pakistan and India each control parts of the region of Kashmir and each claim the entirety of it, a dispute that dates back to the partition of British India in 1947. The two countries have fought several wars and a number of smaller skirmishes over the territory.

The attackers appear to have targeted Hindu men, reportedly asking some of the victims their names or testing if they could recite Quranic verses before killing them. A militant group called the Resistance Front has claimed responsibility for the attack. Indian authorities say the group is an offshoot of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group which carried out 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, and which has widely reported links to Pakistan’s security services. Pakistan claims Lashkar-e-Taiba has been essentially dismantled.

Amid public outrage over the attacks, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to “raze whatever is left of the terror haven,” an implicit threat against Pakistan, which India has long accused of backing terrorist........

© Vox