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India and Pakistan have fought six wars since the countries were formed in 1947 after being granted independence from the British Empire.

At the heart of the conflicts has been the disputed mountainous territory of Kashmir, which borders both nations and is divided into an Indian and Pakistani section. Both believe the region should be theirs completely.

Pakistan's claim is based on the fact that the majority of the area's population is Muslim, while New Delhi claims ownership because, on partition, the region's then-ruler chose to join India.

Great bloodshed followed the creation of the largely Muslim Pakistan and its much larger neighbour, the Hindu, secular, India.

Around half a million people died in communal violence after the countries were created and the same amount were left homeless.

The first conflict began in October 1947, two months after the countries came into being, following Pakistan's support of a Muslim insurgency in Kashmir.

Kashmir's Maharaja appealed to India for help in return for it becoming an Indian territory. But the nature of that agreement has long been disputed. The war ended on 1 January 1949, with the establishment of a ceasefire line.

The second Indo-Pak war began in April 1965 with a border dispute which escalated into fighting before Pakistan claimed victory.

It flared up again when Pakistan launched a covert offensive across the ceasefire line into Indian-administered Kashmir in August.

India retaliated by crossing the international border at Lahore before both committed to a UN-sponsored ceasefire.

Six years later, they raised arms again after East Pakistan, located on the other side of India, demanded independence from Islamabad.

As the conflict escalated to full civil war, around 10 million people left for India, giving Delhi the excuse to intervene.

The Pakistani army surrendered at Dhaka and more than 90,000 soldiers became Indian prisoners of war.

East Pakistan became the independent country of Bangladesh on 6 December 1971 and the new country was recognised by Pakistan three years later.

Growing Muslim resentment against Indian rule and the arrival in Kashmir of Islamic Jihadi fighters after the Soviet Union pulled out of Afghanistan led to armed resistance breaking out in 1989.

Pakistan gave "moral and diplomatic" support to the movement, but India accused its neighbour of training and supplying weapons to militant separatists.

During the following decade, anti-Indian sentiment in Kashmir changed from being nationalistic to being essentially Islamic in nature.

Conflict again erupted after India launched air strikes against Pakistani-backed forces that had infiltrated Indian-administered Kashmir, north of Kargil in 1999.

Fighting built up towards a direct conflict between the two states and tens of thousands of people were reported to have fled their homes on both sides of the ceasefire line.

Later that year, General Pervez Musharraf led a military coup in Pakistan.

Thirty-eight people were killed after an attack on the Kashmiri assembly in Srinagar, in Indian-controlled Kashmir in October and a month later, 14 people were killed in an attack on the Indian parliament in Delhi.

India again blamed Pakistani-backed Kashmiri militants and a dramatic build up of troops along the Indo-Pakistan border followed.

In January 2002, President Musharraf promised that Pakistan would not allow terrorists to operate from Pakistani soil and again called on Delhi to resolve the dispute over Kashmir through dialogue.

India said it would wait for action to back up his words.

Tensions have continued to simmer throughout this century, with the disputed ownership of Kashmir and Pakistan's alleged support of terror groups the most frequent causes.

Between 26 and 29 of November, militants from the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) were accused of killing 166 people during a four-day attack on Mumbai. At the time, the group was alleged to have close ties to Pakistan's spy agency, the Inter-Service Intelligence - an accusation Islamabad denied.

The attacks were carried out by 10 gunmen, armed with automatic weapons and hand grenades. They targeted civilians at numerous sites in the southern part of Mumbai, including the Chhatrapati Shivaji railway station, the popular Leopold Café, two hospitals, and a theatre.

While most of the attacks ended within a few hours, the terror continued to unfold at three locations where hostages were taken - the Nariman House, where a Jewish outreach centre was located, and the luxury hotels Oberoi Trident and Taj Mahal Palace & Tower.

The attack was finally stopped when Indian security forces ended the siege at the Oberoi Trident around midday on November 28 and at the Taj Mahal Palace on the morning of the following day. Nine of the attackers were killed, the tenth was captured.

On 26 February, the Indian Air Force carried out airstrikes against what it alleged was a training camp of the terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed in the Pakistan town of Balakot. Just a day later, in an operation called Swift Retort, Pakistani jets attacked multiple locations in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.

In the ensuing dogfight, Pakistan claimed to have shot down two Indian jets and captured one Indian pilot. Indian officials acknowledged that one IAF jet was lost, while their claim to have destroyed two Pakistani planes was dismissed by US intelligence. After days of intense negotiation, the Indian pilot was returned home, de-escalating the situation.

At least 26 people, most of whom were Indian tourists, were shot dead by gunmen at a beauty spot near the resort town of Pahalgam in the Indian-controlled part Kashmir on 22 April. India described the massacre as a "terror attack" and said it had "cross border" links, blaming Pakistan for backing it.

In one of the worst attacks in recent times in Kashmir, at least four gunmen fired at dozens of tourists who were enjoying their holidays in Baisaran meadow.

The Kashmir Resistance, also known as The Resistance Front, an offshoot of the group that carried out the Mumbai massacre, said it was responsible.