Is the world about to see another major war?

India said it conducted military strikes on nine sites in Pakistan in retaliation for deadly militant attack on tourists in Kashmir, intensifying a confrontation between the two countries, both of which have nuclear weapons.

The missile strikes early on Wednesday morning targeted “terrorist infrastructure” in Pakistan and Pakistan administered-Kashmir, according to India; Pakistan has denied the claim, saying the attack largely harmed civilians.

Kashmir is one of the world’s most dangerous flashpoints and is controlled in part by India and Pakistan but both countries claim it in its entirety. Relations between India and Pakistan have dropped precipitously in recent weeks following a deadly rampage by gunmen who murdered 26 people, the majority Indian tourists, at a scenic spot in Kashmir.

India has long accused Pakistan of harboring militant groups that conduct attacks across the border, a charge Pakistan denies, and had vowed to retaliate against those they deemed responsible.

“These steps come in the wake of the barbaric Pahalgam terrorist attack in which 25 Indians and one Nepali citizen were murdered,” India’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement, referring to an attack last month tourists in India-administered Kashmir.

“Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted. India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution,” the statement added.

“Pakistan will respond to it at a time and place of its own choosing,” Pakistani military spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry told Geo TV. “This heinous provocation will not go unanswered.”

Major world powers, including the United States, had urged restraint in the weeks after last month’s attack on tourists, fearful that a military conflict between India and Pakistan over Kashmir could quickly escalate.

The two nuclear-armed rivals have fought three wars over the mountainous territory that is now divided by a de-facto border called the Line of Control (LOC) since their independence from Britain nearly 80 years ago.

While the fact that both countries have nukes makes an all out war between India and Pakistan extremely unlikely, it is still possible that a possible tit-for-tat battle between the two countries could accidentally escalate into Pakistanis and Indians engaging in battle and killing each other.

Both Pakistan and India are proud nations, and might feel pressured to keep responding militarily, if the other nation conducts an attack on them that they feel cannot go unanswered. That is when things could get out of control.

And should a skirmish between soldiers from the two nations occur, it is possible that it could get out of control and lead to a larger battle, that eventually becomes a war. The two nations have had wars before multiple times.

In all likelihood, this conflict will subside. But if Pakistan and India are not careful and measured, trouble could lie ahead.