Bhutan patrol kills anti-Indian 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 from the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) died in a gun battle, after being intercepted by a patrol in the Manas reserve forest straddling Bhutan's border in Assam.

The Indian officials said the Bhutanese troops suffered no casualties. Nine rifles and a wireless set were recovered from the spot of the encounter.

The officials also said that three rebels of the Tripuri tribe were killed in two separate clashes with Indian security forces in the north-eastern state of Tripura.

Indian pressure

The NDFB and the other Assamese rebel group, the United Liberation Front of Assam or (ULFA) have maintained bases in southern Bhutan for more than a decade.

Bhutan has been under severe Indian pressure to push these rebels out of its territory.

But the Himalayan kingdom's government has said it will try persuasion first and use force only when it fails.

The rebels however promised to move out of Bhutan by the end of December, but have apparently not done so.

In Tripura, the state's specialist counter-insurgency outfit attacked two hideouts of the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) in the northern Dalai district late on Monday.

Three rebels were killed on the spot and several others were injured. The troops suffered no casualties.