Violence flared in the disputed Kashmir region with 17 people, including 15 rebels, killed in separate gunbattles, officials said today.
The number of deaths in a 24-hour period was the highest since last Sunday when 21 people were killed in Indian Kashmir where a separatist revolt has raged for nearly 13 years.
The latest killings came as Defense Minister George Fernandes told a news conference in Jammu, the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir, that "there are 3,000 militants still active in the state and efforts would be taken effectively to neutralize them."
Tensions have eased between India and Pakistan that have been locked in a border standoff since an attack on the Indian parliament in December which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based guerrillas.
India, however, is insisting that Pakistan honor a pledge to stop militant infiltration into Indian territory before it pulls back its troops from the border.
"Dialogue with Pakistan is not possible until infiltration is permanently stopped. This untraced infiltration can be there," Mr Fernandes told reporters in Jammu.