Ceasefire 'intact' despite Red Fort attack

Security is on high alert after the attack

The Indian Government has said that Friday night's attack by suspected Kashmiri militants on the historic Red Fort in Delhi will not affect the current ceasefire in Kashmir.

Security in Delhi has been put on high alert after the attack which killed three people, including a soldier. Both the army and police have ordered an inquiry.

We are not going to be deterred by such acts, and the peace process will continue

Home Minister LK Advani

More than 1,000 officers are combing the capital for the two gunmen.

Callers claiming to be from the militant Kashmiri separatist group, Lashkar-e-Toiba, said they carried out Friday's attack.

Backlash

The incident came only a day after the Indian Government extended its current unilateral ceasefire in Kashmir by a month.

Indian Home Minister, LK Advani, insisted the government would not allow the peace process to be sabotaged.

India has extended its unilateral ceasefire in Kashmir

"We are not going to be deterred by such acts, and the peace process will continue," he said.

But hardline Kashmiri militant groups, including Lashkar-e-Toiba, reject the ceasefire as a ploy.

The BBC's Mike Woolridge in Delhi says that if the attack was effectively carried out by Kashmiri separatists, it represents a potent symbol of the backlash against the new peace initiative.

Interrogation

Our correspondent says there are few more high-profile targets in India than the Red Fort. Independence from Britain was proclaimed from its ramparts half a century ago.

The red sandstone fort not only houses a military garrison, but is also one of India's interrogation centres where hundreds of Muslim separatists have been questioned in the past.

Police say the gunmen entered the fort and killed a guard, an army barber and a soldier.

They then headed for the museum within the fort complex and opened fire at the guards and other people there.

An army reaction team fired back, but after several hours of combing the warren-like building, the police concluded that the gunmen had probably slipped away in the darkness.