Lucknow, India - Militants blew up a security wall with a car bomb and stormed a Hindu shrine at the heart of India's biggest religious controversy Tuesday, triggering a gunbattle in which security forces killed five attackers.
Police also found the torn body of a sixth man, who was believed to be the suicide bomber, said Jyoti Sinha, chief of the paramilitary force that guards the disputed Ram Janmbhoomi temple complex in the northern city of Ayodhya, a religious site claimed by both Hindus and Muslims.
Hindu nationalists blamed Pakistan-based Muslim militants for the first major attack on a Hindu temple site since 2002. Police didn't blame any group.
An Indian security official said more bloodshed was prevented because authorities had been warned that militant groups were planning to target religious sites.
"We had already taken some preventive steps. That is why our security forces were able to successfully repulse the attack," said V.K. Duggal of the Interior Security Ministry.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the attack and said the government would deal firmly with any terrorist acts.
Hindu nationalists said the violence proved India's recent peace overtures with Islamabad were a failure and they called for peaceful protests.
"It is an attack by jihad terrorists ... there should be protests against this across the country, peacefully," said Ram Madhav, spokesman of the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or National Volunteers Association. The RSS is the ideological fountainhead of all Hindu organizations in India, including the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.
Pakistan-based militants have been fighting Indian security forces in Kashmir since 1989. A 2001 attack on India's Parliament also was blamed on Islamic militants. India and Pakistan, traditional rivals, are pursuing peace after years of acrimony.
The sprawling 80-acre complex that was attacked is where Hindu nationalists demolished an ancient Muslim mosque in 1992, sparking religious riots that killed more than 2,000 people.
The site is guarded by thousands of police and paramilitary soldiers and every worshipper is searched before being allowed in. Security is so tight that even pens, pencils, lighters and matchboxes are prohibited.
Hindu leaders claim the mosque in Ayodhya, 345 miles east of New Delhi, was built by Mogul rulers at the site of a Hindu temple. They believe the site is the birthplace of Ram, the highest god in the Hindu pantheon, but Muslims say there is no proof of that claim. The dispute is still working its way through India's courts.
Alok Sinha, the home secretary of Uttar Pradesh state, where the temple complex is located, said the assault lasted nearly two hours.
"Five militants have been killed," Sinha said. "Three security forces have been injured."
Sinha said it was too early to say who was involved.
He said the attackers used two vehicles _ a jeep loaded with bombs that blew up part of a wall at the outer periphery of the high-security complex, and a taxi they used to reach the complex posing as tourists. The driver of the taxi was arrested and was being questioned, he said.
Star News channel said the attackers came dressed as soldiers of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force, but the report could not be confirmed.
"All state governments have been alerted to take adequate precautions to protect monuments, security installations, religious places. Particular attention has been drawn toward maintaining communal harmony, peace and public order," Singh's media adviser, Sanjay Baru, told reporters.
The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party called for a nationwide strike on Wednesday to protest the assault.
"To attack the Ram Janbhoomi, the holiest shrine of the Hindus, is a very serious thing and there should be an equal reaction," BJP President Lal Krishna Advani said.
The violence Tuesday was the first major attack on a Hindu temple site since a 2002 assault on the Akshardham temple in western Gujarat state which left 32 people dead, including two attackers. The 2002 attack was blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e Tayyaba group _ one of more than a dozen guerrilla groups fighting for Kashmir's independence or its merger with mostly Muslim Pakistan.