11:11 05/06/2015
Guwahati - India's army launched an operation in the northeastern
state of Manipur on Friday to hunt tribal separatist guerrillas who
killed at least 20 soldiers in the deadliest attack on security forces
in the state in more than two decades.
The operation involves
hundreds of soldiers on foot with the support of helicopters in the
remote mountainous forests close to the border with Myanmar, where
insurgents are demanding autonomy for their tribal groups or
independence, army and intelligence officers told Reuters.
The
central government asked the army to "trace and eliminate the
insurgents" involved in the attack, a military commander said, asking
not to be identified because he is not authorised to speak to the media.
As
in much of India's remote and underdeveloped northeast, Manipur has
been the scene of recurring strife between ethnic and religious groups
since independence from British rule in 1947.
Manipur
is one of seven northeastern provinces attached to the rest of the
India by a thin strip of territory arching above Bangladesh. In culture
and appearance, its people have more similarities with Southeast Asia
than mainland India.
About
2,000 people have been killed in the violence in Manipur over the last
decade, according to the South Asian Terrorism Portal.
A senior
intelligence officer said about 50 tribal guerrillas were involved in
the ambush of the three-vehicle convoy on a narrow road on a remote
hillside about 100 km (60 miles) from the state capital, Imphal, on
Thursday.
The militants fired rocket-propelled grenades, detonated
improvised explosive devices and peppered the trucks with machine guns,
army officials said. Two of the military trucks carrying soldiers
caught fire.
The militants may have escaped across a porous border
to hideouts in Myanmar, a trek of at least four hours through thick
forest from the site of the attack, according to intelligence officers.
Three
rebels groups active in the area, the National Socialist Council of
Nagaland (Khaplang faction), Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup and Kangleipak
Communist Party, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Recently
several rebels groups from the region formed a unified group named
United National Liberation Front of Western South East Asia.
"Generally,
violence in Manipur is on the downward trend," said Ajai Sahni,
executive director of the Institute for Conflict Management in New
Delhi. "But this is a reminder well-armed groups, which are reasonably
well coordinated, are able to carry out opportunistic attacks."
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