India, Pakistan exchange drone attacks

India and Pakistan exchanged aerial attacks, raising fears of escalation in a conflict spurred by the killing of tourists in Kashmir.

Islamabad said it had shot down 25 drones, and New Delhi said it had responded to Pakistani strikes. It follows Indian air and artillery assaults in retaliation for last month’s attack, strikes which Islamabad called an “act of war.”

There had been hopes that the two sides would stand down, but one prominent Indian security analyst suggested New Delhi may be trying to deter Islamabad from further aggression with conventional attacks of its own. “It is a time of great peril,” the Pakistani newspaper Dawn argued in an editorial.