PAHALGAM, India -- Indian troops have turned Kashmir's most popular health resort into a fortress to prevent militant-led attacks on an annual Hindu pilgrimage which uses Pahalgam town as a base camp.

Some 3,000 devotees have converged at Pahalgam for a break before setting out on a rugged trek to the icy cave of Amarnath, the mythological home of Lord Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction.

The pilgrimage originates in Jammu, Kashmir's winter capital, where devotees travel 350 kilometers (215 miles) by vehicle to Pahalgam before setting off on foot to the Himalayan cave some 45 kilometers away.

They take a second break on the windswept ridges of Sheshnag, 25 kilometres from Pahalgam and then make camp along the streams of Panchtarni before inching up the last six kilometers to the 3,880-meter (11,154-foot) cave.

Officials said the pilgrimage is arduous enough without the constant fear of militant attacks and landmine blasts along the route, which offers views of snow-capped Himalayan peaks.

Some 15,000 policemen, paramilitary and army soldiers guard the Pahalgam-Amarnath route, along which 100,000 Hindus are expected to trek over the next month.

"Security force personnel have fanned out in all possible directions," said Ghulam Hassan Bhat, police chief of Anantnag district, where Pahalgam is situated.

Bhat's men are detailed to frisk even the ash-smeared Hindu holymen at checkpoints set up near the fast-flowing Lidder river.

"We don't want to take chances after the July 13 massacre," said police officer Inayat Ullah, referring to a attack near Jammu where Islamic guerrillas disguised as holy Hindu men gunned down 28 men and women in a slum.

The pilgrimage, which has so far seen 3,129 devotees leaving Pahalgam by foot on Monday, has been temporarily suspended because of rains.

But the pilgrims who left Monday appeared in high spirits despite warnings of worsening weather.

"This is my first visit to the holy cave," said Rupesh Kumar from Gujarat state, the site of savage Hindu-Muslim rioting which has left 1,000 people dead since February.

"There has been no problem at all. The locals are very helpful," said Kumar, accompanied by his wife and two children.

More than 36,500 people have died in violence in Indian Kashmir since the launch of a separatist drive in 1989.

Pahalgam store-owners too are hoping for a respite from trouble.

"We pray for an incident-free pilgrimage," said Ghulam Ahmed, a shawl-seller.

Ahmed sold thousands of Kashmiri shawls to both foreigners and Indians who thronged Kashmir before the 1989 start of the rebellion.

"And now this is the only month when we earn something," he said.

Heavily-armed troops patrolled Pahalgam, where India's film industry has shot several romantic films against the backdrop of the streams and rolling meadows.

The authorities have set up checkpoints on Pahalgam's periphery.

Rajinder Bhullar, an official from border security force, said intelligence reports warned of suicide squads being set up by the Lashkar-e-Taiba rebels to disrupt the pilgrimage.

Last year 10 Hindu pilgrims, local residents and policemen were killed in a militant attack at Sheshnag Camp.

And in August 2000, as many as 32 pilgrims and locals died in a militant suicide attack.

Bad weather too is a constant fear. In 1996 some 240 pilgrims died due to the extreme conditions.

Officials said fewer devotees are expected to take the current trek compared to the previous year when 170,000 Hindus thronged Pahalgam.