Kolkata, December 21
Indian soldiers killed nine rebels fleeing Bhutan in gunbattles as the Himalayan kingdom’s military offensive against the anti-India militants turned a week old today, officials said here.
An Indian soldier was also killed in the firefights with heavily armed insurgents.
“We killed nine insurgents who were trying to get into India to escape capture in Bhutan in the past 48 hours and we lost one of our men,” a senior Indian defence official said.
The official said the rebels were killed in gunbattles at five places along the 380-km border with Bhutan, which Indian Army personnel sealed since the neighbouring nation began its offensive on December 15.
The Indian soldier, who was not identified, died in a battle in Arunachal Pradesh on Friday night, the official said.
Indian Army personnel also apprehended at least four insurgents fleeing Bhutan.
“Bhutanese troops have suffered at least 30 casualties. Many of the insurgents have fled deeper into the jungles of south Bhutan,” the official said.
Guwahati:
The banned ULFA on Sunday demanded the immediate cessation of the operation by India and Bhutan against militants and urged Assamese, Bodos and Kamtapuris to severe all ties with Bhutan till the operations stopped.
ULFA Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, in a message e-mailed to the local media here, said the outfit had called for the immediate suspension of trade with Bhutan and severance of ties till the operations by the Royal Bhutan Army stopped.
Samdrup Jongkhar:
The King led from the front on Sunday, overseeing action at Deothang, about 30 km from here, in Samdrup Jongkhar district in south Bhutan.
Bhutan Government sources here said at least 160 insurgents had either been captured or had surrendered, while another 120 had been killed.
Prince Jigyel, son of Bhutan King Jigme Singye Wangchuk, was not wounded in the operations against Indian insurgents in the Himalayan kingdom as he was not in the forefront of the offensive, a Bhutan Government spokesman said.
Fhuentsholing:
Almost all 30 camps, comprising 13 of the ULFA 12 of NDFB, and five of the KLO, had been destroyed by the Royal Bhutan Army in its operation against anti-India insurgent groups in south Bhutan bordering India, official sources said on Sunday.
The operation almost broke the backbone of the KLO as all action squad chiefs and thinktanks were either liquidated or arrested.
Barring KLO chairman Jiban Singha, who was reportedly in Bangladesh, all his lieutenants were now in police custody. — Agencies
