Indian intelligence and rebel officials said on Monday that neighbouring Myanmar had launched a military offensive against Indian separatist guerrillas amid a similar crackdown in adjoining Bhutan.
"The offensive by the Myanmarese army began over the weekend targeting rebel bases belonging to the S.S. Khaplang faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN)," the senior intelligence official told AFP, requesting anonymity.
The NSCN (Khaplang) is fighting for an independent tribal homeland in Nagaland in India's revolt-wracked north-east.
Details of the campaign were not immediately available, the official said in Guwahati, capital of the north-eastern Indian state of Assam bordering Myanmar.
On Friday, Indian army chief, General Nirmal Chandra Vij, said India was training troops in Myanmar for a possible joint operation against separatists.
An NSCN (Khaplang) official said a military offensive against the rebels was under way but that the NSCN had not suffered any casualties so far.
The offensive was taking place along the mountainous border separating India's Nagaland state from Myanmar's northern Sagaing region, an area where dozens of separatist groups fighting against New Delhi or Yangon have been active for nearly 40 years, the Indian intelligence official said.
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