India acts against Naga rebels

By Subir Bhaumik BBC correspondent in Calcutta

Naga rebels have fought India for more than 40 years

Indian military officials say they have taken measures to stop a Naga rebel group from crossing the border from Burma's Sagaing region.

They did so after receiving reports that Burmese troops have overrun the headquarters of a Naga separatist group in the remote Patkai mountains.

India's eastern army officials told the BBC the Burmese army took over the headquarters of a faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) led by Burmese Naga leader SS Khaplang, without much of a fight.

The army's chief of staff, Lieutenant General JR Mukherji, said his troops had been positioned to seal off possible routes that the NSCN rebels may take to enter the Indian state of Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.

The NSCN's breakaway Khaplang faction had been well entrenched in the remote Patkai mountains in western Sagaing for well over a decade.

Previous attempts by the Burmese army to drive the rebels out had failed because the remoteness and inaccessibility of the hill terrain makes sustaining an offensive difficult and logistics a nightmare.

Blistering attack

Lt Gen Mukherji said the Burmese troops have stayed put after overrunning the rebel headquarters last week and forcing the rebels to flee.

A spokesman of the NSCN's Khaplang faction said two light infantry regiments of the Burmese army launched a blistering assault on the group's headquarters using rockets and mortars last week.

It was not yet clear whether the Burmese troops would dig in and occupy the rebel camp during the monsoon.

The NSCN's Khaplang faction maintains a ceasefire with Indian troops, but Delhi has not invited its leader for the negotiations that has been going on with the NSCN's main faction led by Issac Chisi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah for six years now.