On Wednesday morning, India carried out multiple missile strikes on Pakistan and parts of the Pakistan-managed Kashmir region, with at least 26 people killed, including a three-year-old child.

India claims its operations are targeting nine locations with a "terrorist infrastructure."

In response, Pakistan claims it lowered five Indian aircraft - but India has not commented on the claim yet. At least 10 civilians have been killed in India-managed Kashmir due to the Pakistani fires since Wednesday morning, according to local officials.

Al Jazeera visualizes what has happened so far and the military capabilities of both countries.

Why did India attack Pakistan?

On Wednesday morning, Pakistan's armed forces said Indian missiles hit six locations, including four in Punjab, the first time that India has hit Pakistan's most populous state since the war between neighbors since the 1971 war.

The remaining two targets are Muzaffarabad and Kotli, both of which are Pakistan-run Kashmir.

India claims it also occupies the seventh location - Bhimber, also located in Kashmir, Pakistan.

The attack was India's reaction to the fatal attack on tourists on April 22, where gunmen killed 25 tourists and local pony riders in the scenic town of Pahalgam in the scenic town of Kashmir. According to multiple witnesses, the attackers separated men from women and tried to select non-Muslims as targets. The gunmen then escaped, and 16 days later, Indian security forces have not yet found them.

Tensions in India and Pakistan

In 1947, British colonial rulers drew a series of partitions that divided the Indian subcontinent into Pakistani Muslim-majority Pakistan and India-a minority India. What followed was one of the largest and perhaps bloodiest migrations in human history.

For seventy-eight years, the two countries remained painful enemies. But now they have nuclear weapons.

Tensions between India and Pakistan have escalated sharply again after the Pahargam attack.

Muslim-most Kashmir region has been a former princely country since the Indian division. India, Pakistan and China each control part of Kashmir. India claims all this, while Pakistan claims to be part of India's management.

The two countries participated in the war four times and had many cross-border skirmishes and escalations, including at least 40 Indian soldiers killed in a suicide attack claimed by Pakistan's armed group Jaish-e-Muhammad in 2019.

In retaliation, India launched an air strike in Balakot later that month by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, claiming that its jets attacked the "terrorist" base and killed many fighters. Many independent analysts question whether India has actually attacked the foundations of armed groups and whether it has killed the number it claims.

What are the military capabilities of India and Pakistan?

According to the 2025 military power ranking of global firepower, India is the fourth largest military force in the world, and Pakistan is rated as the 12th most powerful.

India is the fifth largest stock player in the world in the military. In 2024, it spent $86 billion on its military, accounting for 2.3% of its gross domestic product (GDP).

By comparison, Pakistan spent $10.2 billion on the military in 2024, accounting for 2.7% of its GDP.

India has a total military force of 5,137,550 people, almost three times that of Pakistan's 1,704,000. Neither of these countries has mandatory recruitment.

India has 2,229 military aircraft compared to Pakistan's 1,399 people.

India has 3,151 combat tanks compared to Pakistan's 1,839 units.

Pakistan's navy covers the 1,046-km (650 miles) southern coastal border of the Arabian Sea, with 121 naval assets, while the coastal areas of mainland India cover nearly 6,100 kilometers (3,800 miles) and have 293 naval assets.

Nuclear weapons competition between India and Pakistan

According to the International Abolition of Nuclear Weapons (ICANW), a coalition of global banned nuclear weapons, countries have spent an estimated $91.4 billion on nuclear weapons in 2023, spending $2.7 billion in India and $100 million in Pakistan.

India conducted its first nuclear test in May 1974 and conducted five tests in May 1998, declaring itself a nuclear-weapon state.

Shortly after India in 1998, Pakistan conducted its first nuclear test and officially became a nuclear weapon state.

Since then, the two were born together, and more countries in the interstellar world participated in a weapon race, which cost them billions of dollars.

According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) missile defense program, the New Delhi nuclear deterrence targets rivals mainly from Pakistan and China. India has developed longer range missiles and mobile ground-based missiles. In combination with Russia, it is in the development stage of ship and submarine missiles.

CSIS also noted that Pakistan's Arsenal consists primarily of mobile short-term and medium-range ballistic missiles that have sufficient range to target India. In recent years, China's extensive technical assistance on its nuclear and missile programs has helped Pakistan.

Who provides weapons to India and Pakistan?

According to Sipri, cross-border tensions between the two countries are cheering up.

India is the second largest arms importer in 2020-2024, second only to Ukraine, accounting for 8.3% of the global import share. Most of India's imports come from Russia, although it has been transferring its weapons procurement to France, Israel and the United States.

Throughout the border, Pakistan's weapons and weapons imports increased by 61% between 2015-19 and 2020-24 as it began accepting delivery, including fighter jets and warships. Globally, Pakistan is the fifth largest arms importer, importing 4.6% in 2020-24.

Since 1990, Pakistan's main supplier has been China. China provided 81% of Pakistan’s imported weapons in 2020-24; Russia provided 36% of India’s weapons during the same period.