``There are two major factors that reveal the change from hit-and-run tactics to full-fledged guerrilla warfare,'' a senior Army officer said. ``One, the ultras have introduced suicide squads and go in for face-to-face confrontations with the security forces, especially the Army. Second, the composition of the militancy is less local largely derived from Pakistan, Pak-occupied Kashmir and Afghanistan.''

The Lashkar-e-Toiba's Fidayen have targeted Army camps in a series of raids which culminated in the recent sneak attack on the 15 Corps headquarters at Badami Bagh Cantonment which are being viewed as an attention-drawing tactic. ``Thisattack was aimed to draw media attention,'' Major General J.R. Mukherjee, Chief of Staff (COS) 15 Corps, told mediapersons soon after the attack, in which seven Army personnel, including Corps' public relations officer Maj P. Purushottam, were killed.

Explaining this new tactic, an Army officer claimed it was intended to give a psychological fillip to the insurgency movement. ``If they attack a thousand camps in rural areas and even inflict damage, it makes no difference. But when they make even a bid to attack Corps HQs or the Civil Secretariat, it makes news,'' he said. ``The logic is simple: Kill one, frighten a thousand. And they have been able to achieve that,'' the officer admitted.

The induction of suicide squads in the ranks of the militants, especially when they are staffed by fighters who are religiously motivated and have been specially trained to carry out crack operations, has worried security agencies in the state. ``We cannot prevent such attacks. We can only instil in them the fear thatthey cannot get away with such acts -- not alive,'' Maj Gen Mukherjee said.

A meeting of the Unified Command headed by Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, which includes Corps Commanders of the 15, 16 and 14 Corps, the Director General of Police, the Chief Secretary and senior officers of the Border Security Force and the Central Reserve Police Force, was convened here on Tuesday to review the overall security scenario after the Fidayen attack on the 15 Corps HQ.

Soon after the meeting, a senior Army officer told The Indian Express that a new strategy was being charted out to tackle the threat. ``We can't make foolproof arrangements to prevent such attacks, but you will see the difference if they repeat such an attempt,'' he said. ``Let's see if they can get away with it, and let's see how deep they can penetrate into the camps.''

He said the number of Quick Reaction Teams at all camps has been increased to tackle any such eventuality while at important defence installations, the QRTs will be derived fromthe Special Forces (SFs) and the Paras.``Lekin bundooq ka moonh koi band nahin kar sakta (Nobody can stop the muzle of a gun),'' he said. ``If anybody comes with the intention of dying, he can definitely inflict damage.''

After recent recoveries, the security forces are also apprehensive about the induction of large-calibre weaponry here. These include 60 mm mortars, 40 mm G-15 grenade launchers, the 66 mm M-72 light anti-armour weapon, antitank missile launchers etc (see box).

Interestingly, the militants are yet to use these large-calibre weapons. ``Their aim seems to stockpile as much of the large-calibre arms and ammunition here as possible and to lie low till then. When the time comes for these to be put to use, they wouldn't have any shortage,'' an officer said.

Citing the example of the strategy employed in the Rajouri-Poonch area, the officer said that the militants stayed dormant for around two years until they had stokpiled enough arms and ammunition, besides having organised themselves in thetwin districts. ``They then started their activities and now the entire belt is stricken with militancy,'' he said.

Director General of J&K Police Gurbachan Jagat said that the the militants were smuggling large-calibre weapons into the state in order to keep a stock in readiness for any Kargil-like eventuality. However, he added that the militants have already used 60 mm mortars in Thanamandi and Surankote area in Jammu province.

Substantiating their claim that more and more foreign militants are active in the Valley, a defence spokesperson told The Indian Express that in 1991, the percentage of foreign militants killed in Kashmir was just 0.3 while in 1998, it was 48. ``The percentage of foreign militants killed in the Valley was 1.4 in 1992, 8.1 in 1993, 7.2 in 1994, 9.5 in 1995, 12.9 in 1996 and 14.0 in 1997,'' he said. ``During the current year, however, 193 of the total of 488 militants killed by the Army were foreigners.''

Meanwhile, as per the Army's decision to ``facilitate the General OfficerCommanding (GOC) 15 Corps to focus his attention towards border management and effective counter-insurgency operations (CI Ops) in the Valley, the 14 Corps was raised in Leh and the charge of the area across Zojila was handed over to it''. Keeping in view the increase in militant activity, the Army raised a division, the Kilo Force, in north Kashmir that has ``troops and officers specially trained to deal with insurgency''. It is learnt that another such division called the Romeo Force is to be launched to take up CI Ops in the Rajouri-Pounch area.