The artillery guns are on standby to launch an offensive in case the intruders do not clear out by tonight. Senior army officials said the problem will be sorted out over the next 24 hours.

The infantry is moving with extreme caution because of suspected mines and resistance. While three soldiers were killed clearing mines in Mushkoh Valley, the Army wants to keep casualties to the minimum in the last phase of Operation Vijay.

The five Pakistani intrusions 500 m across the LoC and spread from Turtuk to Mushkoh Valley are posing a major problem for the Indian Army since they seem part of a determined Pakistani face-saving effort to grab some territory to show for the massive intrusion.

These pockets of resistance are perched on the LoC andcutting off their supply lines would require crossing the LoC even as infantry assaults have only a single hazardous route up to these heights.

Highly-placed sources in the Army said two of these intrusions which have defied the withdrawals are in the Mushkoh Valley-Drass sector while one each is perched just across the LoC in Kaksar, number of spurs and ridge lines allowed a multi-directional attack, the infantry has only one route available to go up these still-held peaks. It would be suicidal because the Pakistanis supply lines are open and they could bring down a heavy volume of fire on the single route,'' said an Infantry Colonel. In fact, the extension of the deadline and the declaration by Chief of Army Staff General V P Malik in Jammu that Operation Vijay had not been called off and would continue till the eviction of the last intruder from the Indian side indicates that the Army still has a job on its hands.

Officers feel thatPakistanis are determined to grab a bit of Indian territory in aface-saving bid, given the massive intrusion effort. Highly-placed sources said the mastermind of the Kargil intrusion and a known hawk, Lt Gen Mohammad Aziz, had sabotaged the agreement between the two DGMOs on a cessation of artillery duels. ``Pakistani Chief of General Staff Lt Gen Aziz took a hard line on the withdrawal and it was only after the intervention of the senior Government and Army officers that the artillery fire from Pakistan ebbed in the last 48 hours. It is believed that Lt Gen Aziz is again backing the lost pockets of intrusion,'' a senior officer said.