India and Pakistan faced off militarily after a militant attack on tourists that New Delhi blamed on Islamabad, but the nuclear-armed neighbors appeared to be calibrating their responses to avoid full-blown conflict after decades of relative peace.

Pakistan threatened to hit back after retaliatory strikes by India on nine locations across Pakistan and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir overnight Wednesday. Islamabad said its response would correspond to actions taken by New Delhi, which had described its attacks as non-escalatory.