Pakistan shot down 25 Israeli-made drones from India at multiple locations, including the two largest cities of Karachi and Lahore, and their debris is being collected, Pakistan military spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said.
One drone was also shot down over the garrison city of Rawalpindi, home to the Pakistan army s heavily fortified headquarters, he said.
One drone hit a military target near Lahore and four personnel of the Pakistan army were injured in this attack, Chaudhry said.
"Indian drones continue to be sent into Pakistan airspace...(India) will continue to pay dearly for this naked aggression," he said.
The Indian defence ministry said Pakistan attempted to engage a number of military targets in northern and western India on Wednesday night and early Thursday and they were "neutralised" by Indian air defence systems.
In response, Indian forces targeted air defence radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan on Thursday, it said in a statement, adding that the "Indian response has been in the same domain with the same intensity as Pakistan".
Pakistan also increased the intensity of its firing across the ceasefire line, the de facto border, in Kashmir and 16 people, including five children and three women, were killed on the Indian side, the statement said.
The relationship between India and Pakistan has been fraught with tension since they gained independence from colonial Britain in 1947, and the countries have fought three wars, two of them over Kashmir, and clashed countless times.
Both acquired nuclear weapons in the 1990s.
Trading was halted on Pakistan s benchmark share index after the index slumped 6.3% on news of the drone attacks. Indian equities, rupee and bonds fell sharply in late afternoon trading after the Indian defence ministry statement.
Pakistan says at least 31 of its civilians were killed and about 50 wounded in Wednesday s strikes and in cross-border shelling across the frontier in Kashmir that followed, while India says 13 of its civilians died and 59 were wounded.
Pakistan s aviation authority "temporarily suspended" flight operations at airports in Lahore, Karachi, and the northeastern city of Sialkot until noon (0700 GMT). It did not give a reason for the suspension.
Although Pakistan s federal government has pledged to respond to India s strikes, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told The New York Times on Wednesday that Pakistan was ready to de-escalate.
China urged both countries to act in the larger interest of peace and stability, with the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson saying that Beijing was ready to work with the international community "to avoid actions that further complicate the situation".
Russia and the U.S. have also urged restraint.
