The News
India and Pakistan edged closer to the brink of war, with Islamabad vowing to retaliate against deadly Indian strikes Wednesday, as the international community urged restraint.
Pakistan said 26 civilians died in military strikes inside Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir that India said were precision operations targeting “known terror camps.” Pakistan also claimed to have shot down five Indian aircraft.
The threat of conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbors underscores shifting global alliances: India used to buy arms mainly from Russia, but increasingly is doing so from the West, while Pakistan is shifting its supply from the US to China. The connections inject “superpower politics into South Asia’s longest-running and most intractable conflict,” The New York Times reported.