ULFA base demolished by Myanmar

ULFA base demolished by Myanmar: NSCN leader

December 7 (Indo-Asian News Service) - Myanmar has overrun a key Indian separatist base in a Continuing military offensive to evict separatist rebels from its soil, militant leaders said on Tuesday.

The Myanmarese military over the weekend demolished a camp of the Outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) along the Chindwin river in the north of that country, said Kughalo Mulatonu, a leader of the SS Khaplang faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN).

The NSCN, fighting for a tribal homeland in Nagaland, had also lost About five to six camps since the military offensive began a week back, he said.

"The ULFA lost one of its two camps in Myanmar although there were no casualties," Mulatonu said.

"The troops raided the ULFA camp and decamped with some weapons and military hardware."

The ULFA is a rebel group fighting for an independent homeland in Assam state. It had had set up bases inside Myanmar after they suffered heavy reverses last year following a military crackdown by Bhutan.

The ULFA was not immediately available for comments. The military operation by Myanmar is directed against the NSCN that has At least 50 camps with some 5,000 guerrilla fighters entrenched in Fortified bunkers in the Sagaing Division in northern Myanmar, Mulatonu said.

At least four other militant groups from India's northeast, where Numerous tribal and ethnic groups are fighting for greater autonomy or independence, have training camps in northern Myanmar's thick jungles -- all of them sheltered there under the patronage of the NSCN.

"All the revolutionary groups, including the ULFA, are staying under our command as the area in Myanmar is our domain," said another senior NSCN leader Athrom Konyak.

"Earlier there were about 500 ULFA cadres inside Myanmar, but now they have just about 50 of their boys left with the remaining having entered Assam for carrying out some special operation."

"We are committed to giving full protection and assistance to the ULFA and other revolutionary groups from Manipur sheltered in Myanmar," Konyak added.

The NSCN said Myanmarese troops were preparing for heavy bombardments On rebel camps in the next few days.

"The enemy soldiers were moving in 60mm and 90mm mortars and rocket launchers and we are equally prepared to beat back the troops with all our might," Mulatonu said.

At least three brigades (about 10,000 personnel) are involved in the
operation in military-run Myanmar, he said.

There has been no immediate confirmation of the military offensive from Myanmar although Indian army officials' quoting intelligence inputs say "something was on" inside the neighbouring country.

The NSCN's Khaplang faction has been observing a ceasefire with New Delhi since 2001 although peace talks are yet to begin.

In October Myanmar's military strongman General Than Shwe ended a visit To India with a pledge that the junta would not let Indian rebels operate from its soil.

The last time Myanmar launched a military operation against the NSCN And other Indian rebels was in 2001 when at least a dozen separatists were killed.

India and Myanmar share a 1,640 km long unfenced border, allowing militants from the northeast to use the adjoining country as a springboard to carry out hit-and-run guerrilla strikes on federal soldiers.

More than 50,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in thenortheast since India's independence in 1947.

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