Bhutan patrol kills rebels

Bhutan has been under pressure from India for action

By Subir Bhaumik BBC News in Calcutta

Bhutanese security forces have attacked anti-India rebels based in Bhutan for the first time, Indian military officials have said.

Four rebels died in the attack.

The National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) rebels had been trying to cross into India's north-eastern state of Assam from southern Bhutan, the officials said.

The rebels were intercepted by a Bhutanese patrol in the Manas reserve forest near the Bhutan-India border on Monday.

The Bhutanese suffered no casualties.

The rest of the rebel group fled.

Indian pressure

The Indian army had previously moved troops to the forest to intercept rebels.

The rebels have maintained several bases in southern Bhutan since the early 1990s.

Bhutan has been under pressure from India to evict them but the Himalayan kingdom's government preferred persuasion.

Several Bhutanese ministers have met the rebel leaders during the past two years asking them to leave, but with no success, Indian officials say.