The government said it had confirmed the incident with India, which blames elements in Pakistan for the devastating siege on its financial capital.

"We contacted the Indian air force and they said the violation was inadvertent. We don't want to escalate the situation," Information Minister Sherry Rehman said.

Relations between the two South Asian states have deteriorated in the wake of the attacks, in which 172 people died.

India this week called Pakistan the "epicentre" of terrorism and demanded it do more to crack down on militant groups on its soil, but ruled out military action.

Pakistan's air force said Indian jets flew over the Pakistani-administered part of Kashmir and the eastern city of Lahore, both places where the militant group India blames over the attacks is active.

Pakistan has arrested key leaders of the group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and shut down a charity accused of being a front for the organisation, freezing its assets and detaining dozens of members.

But it says it will not hand over any suspects to India, which it says has not yet provided any evidence implicating Pakistanis in the attacks.

Pakistan's air force said Indian planes entered Pakistani airspace in two different locations daytime Saturday and were repelled by its air defence system.

"Indian aircraft entered into Pakistan's airspace... at two different sectors and were swiftly responded by the efficient Pakistan air defence system, forcing them to return to their own territory," said spokesman Air Commodore Humyun Viqar in a statement.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence from Britain, and the incident came as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown visits India in the latest bid by global powers to ease the pressure between the two nations.

Britain has previously urged India and Pakistan, whose long-running dispute over divided Kashmir is a fault line of geopolitical significance, to work together in the wake of the devastation.

Brown's Foreign Secretary David Miliband said earlier this month that "violent extremism is a threat to the very integrity of both of those countries."