The strikes coincided with claims by the authorities that Kashmir's Lashkar-e-Taiba guerilla force had linked up with rebels of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, which lost its chief commander, Gazi Baba, in a weekend firefight with Indian forces.

The bloodletting that has left 35 people dead since Sunday comes despite beefed-up security prompted by radio intercepts that Islamic militants were planning to launch retaliatory assaults.

A spokesman for the paramilitary Border Security Force (BSF) said one of two militants was shot dead after trying early yesterday to storm a fortified base in the Ishber locality of Srinagar.

"Alert guards shot dead one of the militants outside the main gate," spokesman Tirtha Acharya said, adding the other is believed to have escaped.

Two BSF personnel were injured in the militant firing.

The slain militant is believed to be a Pakistani and a Jaish fighter, he said, a day after the BSF unspooled what it called cross-border radio intercepts, cajoling guerillas in the group to take revenge for Baba's death.

Baba was on India's list of "most wanted" rebels after New Delhi accused him of masterminding an attack on its national parliament in December 2001 that killed 15 people, including the five attackers.

"Troops have been put on high alert after Baba's death as radio intercepts of Jaish militants suggest they would launch revenge attacks," Acharya said.

Despite heavy security, a civilian was killed and 21 others, including six soldiers, were injured in an explosion followed by gunfire from militants Tuesday at an army convoy in south Kashmir, police said.

The ambush occurred at Chursoo, 35 kilometers (22 miles) south of Srinagar, when an army convoy was on the move towards the winter capital of Jammu.

Chursoo road is part of the main 300 kilometer (186 mile) highway connecting the Muslim-dominated Kashmir valley with the Hindu-majority Jammu region of the state and the rest of India.

Kashmir's dominant rebel group Hizbul Mujahedeen claimed responsibility for the attack -- the third on the main highway since Monday.

In a separate incident, a mine was detected and defused on the outskirts of Srinagar.

Troops, meanwhile, patrolled areas of Srinagar, including streets around fortified state-owned radio and television buildings.

Militants early yesterday blew up a part of a small bridge at Lowdora village in southern Anantnag district, 95 kilometres south of Srinagar, a police spokesman said. The attack disrupted traffic on the main highway.