Guwahati: Intensifying its crackdown on Indian insurgent groups operating from its soil, Bhutanese Army has captured the central command headquarters of ULFA and destroyed several camps near the border with Assam amidst reports of casualties from both sides as Indian troops kept a strict vigil to prevent fleeing ultras from entering the country.

A red alert has been sounded in Assam and borders with Bhutan sealed with the Army moving additional forces on the border.

"Bhutan's Royal Army soldiers have seized ULFA's central command headquarters located at Phukatong in Samdrup Jongkhar district bordering Assam yesterday," Bhutanese Foreign Secretary Neten Zangmo said today (Dec 16, 2003).

She said the Bhutanese Army was facing resistance from the insurgents operating from hideouts in dense forests.

Sixteen Bhutanese soldiers have been injured in the operations launched yesterday, Yeshey Dorjee, director in the Foreign Ministry, said from Thimpu.

Sources in New Delhi said that eight injured ultras were caught by the Indian Army while trying to sneak in from Bhutan. They have been admitted to Army Base hospital in Bashisatha.

The Bhutanese Embassy in New Delhi said in a statement that operations to flush out the militants were continuing and "some casualties have been faced by the Royal Bhutan Army and the seriously injured have been evacuated by helicopters arranged by the Indian Army".

Reports reaching New Delhi said Bhutanese soldiers were raiding the camps of proscribed ULFA, National Democratic Front of Bodoland and Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) militants holed up in the Kingdom along its border with Assam and West Bengal.

PTI

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