Security in Indian-administered Kashmir was stepped up Tuesday after intelligence sources said separatist Islamic militants were planning more suicide attacks, a top security official said.
Six people, including four militants, were killed on Monday when militants tried to storm a high-security Indian Air Force base in southern Kashmir.
"They are planning to carry out more such attacks in near future," said Rajinder Bhullar, deputy inspector general of India's Border Security Force (BSF).
"We have inputs that militants will try to target important installations, airports and even the civil secretariat," he said, referring to highest office of the state administration.
Earlier this month a suicide bomb attack by militants on the Kashmir legislature building left 38 people dead, most of them civilians.
Bhullar, who heads the BSF's intelligence wing in Kashmir, said militants were planning these suicide attacks in order to "get more publicity, demoralise security forces and create chaos" in Kashmir, which has been wracked by a Muslim insurgency for 12 years.
But he said: "Foolproof security arrangements have been put in place."
The BSF is the main force battling militants in Kashmir and its personnel were involved in Monday's operation near Koel Air Base, 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital.
"We had prior information that militants would strike near the air base," said Bhullar. "That is why we did not suffer any major casualities."
Only three BSF personnel received minor injuries during the attack.
"The boys were prepared," he said as congratulatory telephone calls from BSF's New Delhi headquarters inundated his office after the "successful operation".
"Besides working hard on intelligence gathering, we are also giving special traning to troops to deal with suicide attacks. Mock suicide attacks are carried-out to increase their efficiency," he added.
There have been four suicide attacks by militants this month, including the one on the legislature building.
A suicide attack on an army convoy last week was foiled when troops shot dead two militants before they could attack.
Bhullar said militants were planning to carry out another suicide attack within 10 days.
"Between October 26 to 28, they will increase their violence," he said.
On October 27 1947 Indian troops entered Kashmir after the ruling Hindu Maharaja, faced with advancing Pashtun tribesmen from Pakistan, called for military support from New Delhi. Separatists still observe the anniversary as a "black day".
More than 35,000 people have died in Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state, since the launch of the Muslim rebellion in 1989 -- India, (AFP)
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