Bhutan steps up assault on rebels

Some rebels have threatened to disrupt cross-border trade with India

Bhutanese troops are reported to be engaged in heavy fighting as they press on with an offensive against Indian rebels in the Himalayan kingdom.

Soldiers had entered a large forest to clear out rebels sheltering there, a military spokesman said.

The government has tightened security in the capital, Thimphu, and other towns to pre-empt rebel attacks.

More than 100 rebels and 40 Bhutanese soldiers have been killed since Bhutan began targeting the rebel bases.

'Fierce fighting'

About 300 rebels are thought to have either surrendered or been arrested.

The rebels fled to a forest reserve in west Bhutan after the Bhutanese troops demolished their bases in the east of the kingdom.

A Bhutanese military spokesman said the fighting was fierce in the second phase of the offensive and the troops had managed to clear some "strategic heights".

"We know this [the second phase of fighting] is going to be more difficult than smashing the rebel bases," the spokesman told the BBC.

The rebels in turn say they have killed a number of Bhutanese troops.

Mr Paresh Barua, leader of the United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) - one of the rebel groups - said Bhutanese military convoys had hit land mines and come under heavy fire.

"Taking ground will not be easy for the Bhutanese," he told the BBC.

"They will take unacceptable casualties."

Attacks threat

Earlier, Bhutan said it had briefly halted its offensive in order to regroup its troops.

Nine north-east Indian rebel groups have alleged that Bhutanese troops have been committing atrocities on women fighters and rebel families.

In a statement, they said they would send fighters to Bhutan to "join the battle" and threatened attacks on Bhutanese nationals doing business in north-east India.

Indian police say security arrangements have been tightened to protect such nationals.

The rebels also threatened to "stop the flow of essential commodities to Bhutan from north-east India".

Rebel groups

The three rebel groups involved in the fighting are Ulfa, the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) and the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO).

Ulfa is fighting for Assam's independence from India, while the NDFB and the KLO are fighting for separate tribal homelands.

About 6,000 Bhutanese troops have destroyed almost all of the 30 rebel camps in the country during the offensive, officials say.

The camps reportedly sheltered about 3,000 rebels.