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Maynmar’s offensive against North-east militants |
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Myanmarese troops over-ran two camps of the NSCN (Khaplang) in Sagaing division, bordering India, hours after the military regime in Yangoon began concerted operations on December 14 to flush out Northeast militants taking shelter in that country.
NSCN-K spokesperson Kughalu Mulatonu confirmed the development over phone from his base somewhere along the Indo-Myanmar border. He said two NSCN (K) members were killed and three more seriously injured in fierce gunbattles that lasted five hours.
Sources in the Army’s 3 Corps headquarters at Rangapahar, Dimapur, said they had received reports of the Myanmarese military offensive against militants but declined to make any official statement. “The development relates to another country and only the External Affairs Ministry or the Union Home Ministry can say anything, if our government wants to say anything at all,” a senior Army officer said.
The NSCN (K) has as many as 15 camps, including its general and council headquarters, in Sagaing division of Myanmar. Some other militant groups, including ULFA, the United National Liberation Front and the People’s Liberation Army of Manipur, share some of these camps with the NSCN (K).
The two camps that bore the brunt of the first flush of attacks by the Myanmarese army are located at Tamkho, basically an ungoverned territory with no schools, hospitals, roads or communication network.
Apprehending a more vigorous assault by the Myanmarese army, the NSCN (K) is understood to have already wound up a few hideouts, including a training camp that it shared with its militant allies.
Mulatonu claimed that the outfit’s chairman, S.S. Khaplang, was “safe and sound” and that there was no immediate threat to the headquarters, located a few hundred kilometres away from the field of action. Khaplang, who is of Myanmarese origin, has established several camps across the border in Myanmar.
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