The incident ahead of Republic Day function prompted the authorities to sound a high alert to thwart any infiltration attempt, a senior BSF officer told reporters.

"During the checking of the fencing we have detected that the fence has been cut by militants between pillar number 851 and 852 along the International Border in Abdullian Border Out Post area of Ranbir Singh border belt of Jammu district last evening," he said.

Under the cover of thick fog, the militants had cut nine wires on the Pakistani side and ten wires on the Indian side thereby creating a gap to facilitate infiltration, he said. During checking it was found that the fence has been cut and immediately BSF, CRPF, police and army were alerted and massive searches conducted in the entire border belt and adjoining areas, 35 kms from here.

This is for the first time that the fence has been cut and a gap created for infiltration of militants, the officer said. "However, we feel there are less chances of militants sneaking into this side as there is another fence 500 meters behind the zero line which is intact," he said. Search operations were on in the entire border belt of R S Pura, he said, adding "no foot-prints of infiltrators have been seen."

Fearing that militants might try to disrupt the Republic Day functions by triggering blasts or carrying out suicide attacks, troops have been put on maximum alert along the border in Jammu, Kathua and Samba sectors. "The troops have been asked to check the fence every three to four hours, set up ambushes at vulnerable places, use electronic surveillance and manual patrolling round the clock," the BSF officer said. Besides, the para-military forces, the state police has sounded a high alert in Jammu region.

"Security has been put on high alert in the entire winter capital city," Inspector General of Police, Jammu, Ashok Gupta said, adding a three-tier security has been beefed up in and around the M A M Stadium, the main venue of Republic Day function.

As part of the stepped up security measures, searches are being conducted at various places, particularly hotels and lodges, vehicles are been checked thoroughly and people frisked at the city's entry and exit points. There were 13 infiltration bids and 4 ceasefire violations along the Indo-Pak border in this month. There were in all 433 infiltration attempts in 2009 -- 91 more than in 2008.