Army spokesman Colonel Vikram Singh said the infiltrators had suffered ``heavy casualties'' with at least 267 Pakistani army regulars being killed, but reports indicated that reinforcements had been sent into Batalik, Drass, Kaksar and other areas.

On the Indian side, 86 defence personnel were killed and 220 wounded while eight were still missing, he told mediapersons. Air strikes against Pakistan-backed infiltrators resumed today after two days of bad weather and the attacks were successful, Air Force spokesman group Captain K Raja Ram said.

Singh said it was impossible to project a time frame within which all the intruders would be evicted; this was in view of factors like terrain --rough for most part -- ridge heights which varied from 15,000 to 18,000 feet, and weather, which was mostly unpredictable.

``We are inching forward and consolidating our position,'' he said. Efforts meanwhile were on to identify the eight missing Armymen, he added.

``We have reasons to believe that they were taken prisoners by Pakistan. We hope they will be taken care of and will be returned to us under the Geneva Convention,'' he said.

Singh said the interrogation of arrested militants revealed that Islamabad had planned a four-phase operation to capture Turtuk and its adjacent areas and declare them part of Pakistan.

The planned operation involved infiltration by militants, operations to occupy critical areas around Turtuk, conduct heliborne and airborne operations in the Indian area to facilitate operations of ground forces before finally declaring Turtuk and adjacent areas as part of Pakistan.

Singh also talked about what he felt was an ``exceptionally gallant operation'' in the early hours ofFriday in which Indian troops from a battalion of the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry regiment along with parachute commandos evicted infiltrators from a key position in the Batalik sector.

Though the enemy was well-entrenched in a number of field fortifications and had covered most of the approaches by fire, Indian troops reached the top ``despite heavy odds'', he told mediapersons. He said the intruders counter attacked the position later and in the seven-hour operation 25 Pakistanis were killed besides 14 Indian army personnel.

Lauding the efforts of the Indian troops, Singh said ``but for the selfless devotion to duty marked with exemplary courage displayed by these gallant soldiers, the recapture of this vital position would not have been possible.''

On whether any casualties on the Indian side could be attributed to ``friendly'' fire, Singh said the level of training of Indian army was so high that there was ``no question'' of any Army man being inadvertently killed by their own men.