Pakistan's armed forces have launched "multiple attacks" using drones and other munitions along India's entire western border, the Indian army says, as conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours intensified and the US vice president weighs in.
The old enemies have been clashing since India struck multiple locationsin Pakistan on Wednesday that it said were "terrorist camps" in retaliation for a deadly attack in its restive region of Kashmir last month, in which it said Islamabad was involved.
Pakistan denied the accusation but both countries have exchanged cross-border firing and shelling and sent drones and missiles into each other's airspace since then, with nearly four dozen people dying in the violence.
The army also said Pakistani troops had resorted to "numerous cease fire violations" along the countries' de-facto border in Kashmir, a region that is divided between them but claimed in full by both.
"The drone attacks were effectively repulsed and befitting reply was given to the CFVs (ceasefire violations)," the army said, adding all "nefarious designs" would be responded to with "force".
There was no immediate response from Pakistan to the Indian statement.
Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance said India and Pakistan should de-escalate tensions, but added the United States cannot control the nuclear-armed Asian neighbours and a war between them would be "none of our business".
"We want this thing to de-escalate as quickly as possible. We can't control these countries, though," Vance said in an interview on Fox News show The Story with Martha MacCallum on Thursday.
"What we can do is try to encourage these folks to de-escalate a little bit, but we're not going to get involved in the middle of war that's fundamentally none of our business and has nothing to do with America's ability to control it."
Blasts rang out across the city of Jammu in Indian Kashmir on Thursday during what Indian military sources said they suspect was a Pakistani drone attack across the region on the second day of clashes between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
Sirens sounded and red flashes and projectiles could be seen in the night sky above the city, a Reuters journalist said.
Several parts of Jammu and the surrounding towns of Akhnoor, Samba and Kathua came under attack, said an Indian official who asked not to be named.
There was no immediate comment from Pakistan on what appeared to be an escalation in the countries' worst confrontation in more than two decades.
Pakistan's Defence Minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, had earlier said further retaliation was "increasingly certain" after both countries accused each other of launching drone attacks.
India said it hit nine "terrorist infrastructure" sites in Pakistan on Wednesday in retaliation for what it says was a deadly Pakistani-backed attack in Indian Kashmir on April 22.
Pakistan says it was not involved and denied that any of the sites hit by India were militant bases.
It said it shot down five Indian aircraft on Wednesday, a report the Indian embassy in Beijing dismissed as "misinformation".
Pakistan said earlier on Thursday it shot down 25 drones from India overnight while India said it air defences had stopped Pakistani drone and missile attacks on military targets.
World powers from the US to Russia and China have called for calm in one of the world's most dangerous, and most populated, nuclear flashpoint regions.
The US consulate general in Pakistan's Lahore ordered staff to shelter in place.