They always come in disguise. This time, they were the unlikeliest pilgrims at the most volatile shrine in the subcontinent, coming from nowhere in a jeep on which fluttered a political flag. For a moment it was as if they wanted the vehicle to reach the sanctum sanctorum first. They got down from it before the Mahindra Marshall jeep with an Uttar Pradesh registration number stopped by the iron fence that protected the temple. As the explosives-laden vehicle went up in flames, the five men were already in attack position, throwing grenades at the security men stationed at the site and firing desperately from their ak-47s. After 90 minutes of gun fire, there they were: bullet-ridden bodies of the intruders and the skeleton of a jeep-and a rattled India in fear and dread.

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REMAINS OF A DARK DAY: Terrorists gunned down near the makeshift Ram temple

On the morning of July 5, Ayodhya had its second coming into the national consciousness. In many ways, it was a familiar image from the book of religious terror: another scorched way station on the suicide bombers' road to paradise. What made the deadly difference that morning was the terrorists' chosen target-Ayodhya, a simmering confluence of mythology, archaeology, history and politics. The makeshift temple in Ram Janmabhoomi is more than a disputed piece of real estate. With a back story of the deepest passions and profanities of religion, it still evokes extreme emotions, in politics as well as in faith. Without Ayodhya there would have been no saffron turn in Indian politics. The makeshift temple that came up after the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid-which itself had a disputed origin stretching back to Mughal Emperor Babar-continues to be reconstructed in the mind of the political Hindu. It was a well thought-out target. For Ayodhya Under Attack is a sure recipe for a communal explosion.

On Tuesday morning, India was almost there, as the temple was close to a fiery extinction. Ayodhya may have survived, but it once again shattered the national idyll of consensus and complacency. Out there, someone has been waiting for the right moment-and the right place-to strike. Fear has staged a comeback. And terror, with a definitive religious address, is no longer a distant memory, pushed to the back of the national mind by the euphoria of cross-border peace talks. Ayodhya is just another bloody reminder: India is a frontline state in the struggle against terror. On the day after, however, there was no consensus on that; there was only polarisation along political and ideological lines.

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And there was disbelief. How could the suicide bombers, apparently in their 20s, come so far, so close, a mere 50 m from the sanctum sanctorum? With a two-tier security, 13 watchtowers and a round-the-clock vigil by more than 1,400 police and paramilitary personnel, the Ram Janmabhoomi complex is one of the most heavily guarded properties in India. Visitors to the shrine are frisked like they would before boarding an aircraft. The outer perimeter of the complex is manned by 1,200 policemen of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) in 12 companies. The inner perimeter, which covers the sanctum sanctorum housing the idol of Lord Ram, is guarded by 200 personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), including a Quick Reaction Team comprising 30 armed personnel.

The terrorists seem to have had an easy passage to a place once described by state Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav as "jahan parinda bhi par nahin maar sakta hai (even birds can't fly there)". But at around 9.30 a.m., they drove through the back alley, undetected and, after exploding the RDX-laden jeep, reached the most protected area in the temple complex-the red zone, guarded by the CRPF. In the 90 minutes that followed, it was a close encounter of the worst kind. The fidayeen didn't survive the combined firepower of the CRPF and the PAC. All five terrorists and a sixth person suspected to be a local guide were killed and 15 hand grenades, four ak-47 rifles, two 9 mm pistols and a rocket launcher recovered.

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TERROR ON WHEELS: The explosives-laden Marshall Mahindra jeep blew up, creating a hole in the metal fence for the terrorists' entry

Who were they? The only clue the police have at the moment is the owner of the jeep: Rehan Ahmed, a local resident who has been taken for interrogation to an unknown place. Apparently the six men hired the jeep from Ahmed at around 7 a.m. Uttar Pradesh Principal Home Secretary Alok Sinha told reporters that the terrorists had started off early in the morning from Ambedkar Nagar near Faizabad. Going by the route they had taken to reach the temple, there was certainly a local accomplice to guide them through the maze of short cuts. And nobody in the Government or the police has named the mind behind the attack.

The method, though, makes Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed-the Pakistan-based, isi-patronised, terror twins believed to be behind the December 13, 2001 attack on Parliament-the primary suspects. The let, very much an active force in Jammu and Kashmir, wants the total Islamisation of India. The Ayodhya attack bears close resemblance to the jehadi strikes of let and Jaish. Stealth was the key. So much so that their clandestine wireless networks-linking the cadres in the Valley to their master control stations in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK)- went into silent mode after the suicide mission was foiled by security forces.

Predictably, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Security officials say it is part of the strategy. Both let and Jaish have spawned small militant modules in and outside the Valley. Each module comprises at least three operators specialising in intelligence, technical job (assembling explosives) and operations, and these modules are hard to detect and destroy. Not owning up to the big strikes serves a larger objective too-both let and Jaish are on the US blacklist and it helps them escape the American scanner. This tactic also lends weight to their claims that they are not under control of the Pakistan establishment. Security analysts argue that Islamabad could well be leveraging militants' shadowy fronts to keep up pressure on India to hasten the Kashmir talks while retaining the terror card as an option in its back pocket. "Pakistan has not dismantled the terrorist infrastructure. It is only calibrating terror with talks," says General V.P. Malik, former Indian Army chief and defence analyst.

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EARLY WARNING SYSTEM: The police stand guard at the Birla temple in Delhi after the Ayodhya strike suggested the possibility of similar attacks	PROTECTORS OF FAITH: Security was beefed up at places of worship, like this at the Jama Masjid, taking into account the likelihood of a communal flare up

The India-Pakistan peace process has made little difference to the ground situation in the Kashmir Valley. Hizb-ul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin dropped a clear hint on the future of Kashmir militancy when he called the India-Pakistan engagement as a "futile exercise" and called for a renewed jehad. "We won't compromise on our goal of freedom and will accelerate our armed struggle," he had said in the backdrop of the Hurriyat's recent Pakistan trip.

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