NEW DELHI, May 15 (UPI) -- India's intelligence and security agencies are indulging in a blame game over a recent foiled infiltration bid by militants on the Pakistani border, with one agency accusing the paramilitary forces guarding the border of lacking alertness.

India's elite Intelligence Bureau sent a report to the Interior Ministry in which it charged that the lack of alertness displayed by the paramilitary Border Security Force led to renewed infiltration in strife-torn Kashmir. The IB said the rebels who crossed into Kashmir belonged to the separatist terror group Lashkar-e-Toiba and that they sought to exploit the complacency that has crept into the BSF.

According to a senior Interior Ministry official, the IB is warning of more attempts by extremists who have gathered at different points along the border to sneak in. The border town of Samba, where the infiltration took place, used to be a favorite route for infiltrators till the Border Security Force sealed it.

"The security forces and intelligence agencies should realize that terrorists seek to exploit vulnerability. It is clear from Sunday's incident that militants made full use of lowering of guards on the part of the paramilitary force," said A.B. Mahapatra, director of the Center for Asian Strategic Studies, a non-governmental think tank that handles insurgency-related matters.

Intelligence reports suggest that Sunday's militant operation was just the beginning of a major plan by militants to make their presence felt before the forthcoming assembly elections. A pilgrimage that begins in summer will provide them an opportunity to strike at easy targets. The Interior Ministry official said that the groups were desperate to reinforce their numbers through infiltration from Pakistan.