Troops choke food supply of militants in Bhutan

Northeast militants holed up in camps inside the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan are facing acute food shortage with troops choking their ration supply routes, officials said.

On Friday, an Indian Army patrol along the Bhutan border apprehended 10 porters from Assam carrying food supplies for the militants.

"The porters were released but we arrested one ULFA militant who was leading the group into camps in Bhutan with a huge stock of food grains and other essentials," an army statement said.

Militants of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), both fighting for independent homelands in the northeastern state of Assam, were forcibly collecting rations from border villagers to meet the crisis according to the statement.

Both the ULFA and the NDFB have well-entrenched bases in southern Bhutan from where they carry out their hit-and-run guerrilla strikes on federal soldiers in Assam.

Indian intelligence officials say there could be more than 4,000 ULFA and NDFB rebels in Bhutan.

"A few arrested militants said during interrogations that cadres were facing the worst winters in the Bhutan jungles with food shortage adding to their woes," an intelligence official said.

"A number of militants in the Bhutan camps were hit by disease but with troops blocking the entry and exit routes along the border, they were unable to get medicine supplies and other essentials," the official added.

Bhutan has admitted that ULFA alone has six camps in the country, including the outfit's general headquarters and military training bases inside thick jungles in the southern Samdrup Johnkar district.

The NDFB has seven camps in the tiny Buddhist kingdom.

Bhutan has threatened to use its military might to remove Indian militants from bases within its borders.

"We will hold talks with the militants who have established camps inside Bhutan," Bhutan's King Jigme Singhye Wangchuk was quoted as saying.

"If the militants refuse to leave our country through peaceful dialogue, we will be left with no option but to use our military forces," he stated.