Indian guerrillas shifting to Nepal, ex-rebel says

INDIA: One of the main guerrilla groups fighting Indian rule in the remote northeast is shifting its camps to Nepal following crackdowns in other neighbouring countries, an ex-rebel said Wednesday.

The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), blamed for a string of ethnic massacres and a bombing campaign in oil and timber-rich Assam state, has also gained support from Nepal’s Maoists, the defector said.

“We were in touch with Maoist groups in Nepal and procuring arms, ammunition and explosives for ULFA,” said Ghanakanta Bora, a senior ULFA rebel who along with his wife surrendered to Indian troops in Assam on Tuesday.

“With both the military junta in Myanmar and the caretaker government in Bangladesh deciding to crackdown on groups like ULFA, the top leadership decided to look for safer sanctuaries,” he told reporters.

“Nepal was considered the safest location,” Bora said at a ceremony marking his surrender also attended by senior army officials.

“ULFA have set up some bases in Nepal with the active support of Maoist guerrillas,” a senior Indian army official told AFP on condition that he not be named.

He said the group “is currently preparing to shift a large number of cadres and leaders” to Nepal, which shares a 1,800-kilometre (1,125-mile) unfenced border with India.

Guwahati, Wednesday, AFP