India carried out airstrikes overnight against targets in Pakistan that it said were linked to recent terrorist attacks in Kashmir in which Islamist militants killed 26 people, an escalation that marks the most intense fighting in the hotly contested border region in more than 20 years.

Stunningly beautiful Kashmir is the jewel in the crown for both Pakistan and India but it has been blighted by years of violent, bloody turmoil which has led to both countries to war before and could again.