India begins wargames on Pakistan border

Pakistan troops along LoC put on high alert

India kicked off war games involving thousands of troops on Monday along its border with arch-rival Pakistan, which is still smarting from the US operation that killed Osama bin Laden.

A military spokesperson told reporters the six-day exercise, codenamed Vijayee Bhava (Be Victorious) was being held in the Thar desert region in the Indian state of Rajasthan.

"This exercise envisages sustained massed mechanised manoeuvres," S D Goswami said, adding the drill involved an array of weaponry that India has acquired as part of its ongoing military modernisation programme.

More than 20 000 combat troops were taking part.

The Indian army, the world's fourth largest in terms of personnel, has conducted 10 major military exercises along Pakistan's border in the past six years.

Pakistan is currently under pressure to explain how bin Laden - killed in a US raid on a town near Islamabad a week ago - had managed to live in the country undetected for years.

India has already given its verdict, denouncing its South Asian neighbour as a terrorist "sanctuary"

An embattled Pakistan Army has put its troops along the Line of Control (LoC) on a high state of alert as it scrambles to emerge from the embarrassment of having been caught unawares by the US troops, who raided the cantonment town of Abbottabad to take outOsama bin Laden.

According to authoritative sources, all units of Pakistani Army along the entire 740-kilometer LoC and the 110-km Actual Ground Position Line in Siachen were on Friday put on a "higher state of alert". Accordingly, "active deployment" has been beefed up along forward posts, said a senior official of Indian Army.